Lucca Brughmans: Genk's Rising Star on Loan from Liverpool

Lucca Brughmans walked back into Genk’s dressing room on Saturday as if nothing had changed. In reality, everything had.

Three days earlier, the 18-year-old had completed a deadline-day move to Liverpool in a deal that could rise to $41 million (£30m), flown to Merseyside for his medical, signed for one of the biggest clubs in the world – and then been sent straight back to Belgium on loan.

By the time he faced Anderlecht at the weekend, he was once again Genk’s No.1, keeping a clean sheet and a level head in a 0-0 draw. The noise around him has exploded. His attitude has not.

“I remained very level-headed about it,” Brughmans told reporters after the game, speaking with the kind of calm that explains why so many elite clubs have been circling. Real Madrid were among those who tracked him, a measure of how highly he is rated across Europe.

He described the whirlwind in simple terms. Genk had a free weekend. Then his life turned.

“We had a free weekend and after that I lived in a dream for three days,” he said, recalling his brief first taste of Liverpool. Time was tight. There was no grand tour of the city, no slow soaking in of the Premier League stage that awaits him.

“Due to lack of time, I was only able to visit the training complex,” he explained. “Yes, it was hectic, but I switched gears on Monday. I flew back to Belgium and immediately joined training. Back to reality quickly, I am glad it worked out this way.”

That switch – from “living in a dream” to stopping shots at Anderlecht inside days – is exactly what Liverpool are banking on: a teenager able to live with the glare, then shut it out.

Big fee, small ego

The numbers around the deal have raised eyebrows. An 18-year-old goalkeeper, yet to play in one of Europe’s top five leagues, commanding a package that could hit $41m. Liverpool’s recruitment team clearly believe they have stolen a march on the market.

Brughmans, though, wants no part in the financial debate.

“That is something I have no idea about,” he said with a shrug. “That is not my job, so I leave that to the professionals.”

He knows the scale of the move. He also knows he cannot let it change him.

“But it is a different world,” he admitted. “Luckily, I have people around me who are there to keep my feet on the ground.”

For him, that starts and ends with family.

“My family is everything. We are very close as a family. Of course, we were all together in Liverpool, and my little brother Beau was here tonight too. We try to attend as many of each other’s matches as possible.”

The image fits: the teenager stepping into one of football’s harshest spotlights, anchored by those closest to him, bouncing between a Premier League superclub and a Belgian away day with his brother in the stands.

Genk’s promise, Liverpool’s plan

Genk have already installed Brughmans as their first-choice goalkeeper this season, and the club’s manager has given Liverpool assurances he will protect their investment. The plan is clear: a full campaign of senior football in Belgium, then a move to Merseyside next summer.

What he walks into at Anfield by then is less certain. Alisson Becker is now in the final year of his contract. Giorgi Mamardashvili has been linked with a move away. The goalkeeping department could look very different in 12 months’ time.

Brughmans knows more than he is willing – or allowed – to share.

“Of course, I can't fully reveal Liverpool's plan for me here,” he said, laughing. The ambition, though, is not hidden at all. “The intention is, however, to become their first-choice goalkeeper in the long term.”

There it is. Not just a dream, but a target.

“I’m going to do everything I can to achieve that. I still need to take steps, and I’m happy that I can do that at Genk.”

For now, the teenager who belongs to Liverpool will continue to grow in Belgium, one clean sheet and one pressure moment at a time. The next time he walks back into a dressing room after a game, it may be at Anfield – and by then, the expectations will be far bigger than a point at Anderlecht.