Reports from overseas say LA Galaxy All-Star defender Jelle van Damme may be leaving the club to return home to Belgium.
Van Damme reportedly has a two-year contract offer from Royal Antwerp, which boasted a home draw against Anderlecht in this weekend’s league opener.
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The big 6-foot-3 defender joined the Galaxy in 2016 and has made 55 appearances for the club. He was sent-off late Saturday versus Seattle, his third red card of the season (all for two yellows).
UPDATE: MLSSoccer.com has quotes from Van Damme, who admits he’s home sick:
“If I think about myself, I’m good in LA. If I think about my kids, I just want to go back,” he explained. “I know it got all in the press in Belgium and the clubs in Belgium know my situation, my team knows the situation – [LA] always respected my situation and they helped me out wherever they could. But I feel the second year is getting harder and harder.”
Van Damme, 33, has 31 caps for Belgium and is well-traveled in club soccer, having played for Standard Liege, Ajax, and Anderlecht amongst several other stops.
His absence would be a big one for LA, which had just made a huge splash in acquiring Jonathan dos Santos from Villarreal after upgrading its attack with Romain Alessandrini in the offseason.
Antwerp has made a "concrete" proposal to return #LAGalaxy captain Jelle Van Damme to Belgium, according to the HLN newspaper in Brussels
— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) July 31, 2017
Van Damme would like to be reunited with his children, who remain in Belgium. The report says the offer is for 2 years.
— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) July 31, 2017