Millwall new boy Casper de Norre has played at Liverpool’s famous Anfield home – success this season will allow him to add Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United to stadium checklist

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Casper de Norre has already played at Anfield. If he helps Millwall achieve their target this season then he will be able to then tick off Old Trafford, Emirates Stadium, Stamford Bridge, Villa Park and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

De Norre, who signed for the Lions at the end of last week for an undisclosed fee from OH Leuven, won the Belgian Pro League with Genk in 2019.

That following season he started in the Champions League against Liverpool, RB Salzburg and Napoli.

The fixture against the Reds was his debut in Europe’s elite competition. De Norre played at left wing-back and marked both Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, swopping shirts after the match with the England international.

De Norre, who has been capped by Belgium at U21 and U17 level, had a soft spot for Manchester United as a kid.

“They had a good team when I was 10 or 11 and started to watch football,” he told the South London Press. “Ronaldo and Rooney – I was a fan because they were good.

“I watched the Premier League and it speaks a little bit for itself. I wanted to play in England.

“I’m 26 now and it feels like this is the right time to make this step. You have that little bit of experience. I think the top years of my career will happen now – your best years are always between 26 and 30 or 31.”

De Norre was always a midfielder during his youth career.

“I started at Sint-Truiden from eight until I was 11, then from 11 until I was 16 I was at Genk,” he said. “I joined Standard Liege from 16-18 but I didn’t feel there was an opportunity for young players to get through to the first-team and make their debut.

“I made the choice to go back to Sint-Truiden to give myself the best chance.”

De Norre impressed in midfield during a loan at ASV Geel in 2016-17, his first after signing a professional deal, but when he returned to his parent club he was converted to left-back.

“The manager had left and the new one (Bartolome Marquez) didn’t know who I was – I was just a young guy to him,” said De Norre. “There was no left-back or right-back, because of injuries, and he put me there. It went well.

“I was on the bench for the first game and in the second match one of our players got a red card. I came on at right-back. The manager was fired, because it was not a good match for the club.

“The assistant who gave me my debut, Chris O’Loughlin, said: ‘I have no-one else, I’m going to put you at left-back and we’ll see how it goes’.

“It was a good chance for me so I said I would do it. We played against Liege and won. The next game we played at Anderlecht and won – the same against Genk.

“I just stayed there. I made the transfer to Genk, who bought me as left or right-back, and when I went back to Leuven it was the same thing.

“Because of some injuries at Leuven I had the opportunity to play back in the midfield. It went really well – it was so much better for me. I like it a lot more as a midfielder.”

De Norre scored nine goals and collected 12 assists in 95 matches for OH Leuven. He has played 221 games in all competitions.

While he has filled every position on the pitch apart from the attacking ones, Millwall boss Gary Rowett has already emphasised he has been brought in to compete with the likes of Billy Mitchell and George Saville.

The Lions have had Belgian players before – Bob Peeters and Christophe Kinet – and the South Londoners have dipped into the overseas market more frequently since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, acquiring Dutch number 10 Zian Flemming for a club record £1.7million fee from Fortuna Sittard and German striker Andreas Voglsammer from Union Berlin.

“In the beginning it will be about adapting but after that I just want to be important to the team,” said De Norre, who was part of his country’s squad for the 2019 U21 European Championships.

“I will look to give the best of myself every game. Hopefully as a team we can make a push for promotion, that is the goal.

“I don’t like to put numbers on it for myself and say I have to score so many goals or so many assists. It is better to let the games come to you and be important in your own way – whether that is defending or giving a pass, which might mean someone else then gives a pass before we score a goal.

“We’ll see how it goes. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself directly but, after a while, I will be at my best.”
Millwall had been working on a transfer since May.

“The first time I knew they were interested was at the end of last season when I got told they were coming to a game,” said De Norre. “I think Alex (Aldridge, director of football operations and recruitment) was coming and my agents spoke about it.

“The interest at the end of my holidays told me that it was more and more clear that they wanted to go for it. Now I’m finally here.”

De Norre has stuck with the squad number he had at OH Leuven.

“At every good stage of my career I had number 24 and it was free here – so I thought I’d just keep it,” he said.

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD AND PA