Inter Milan & Belgium Defender Plays His Way Back Into Form At Standard Liege After Injury Nightmare

Inter Milan-owned defender is finally playing his way back to form on loan at Standard Liege after several years of terrible luck with injury.

Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, highlight how the Belgian may end up returning to Standard on a permanent basis at the end of the season.

If there has been a theme of Vanheusden’s career to date, it has sadly been persistent injury problems.

There is no denying Vanheusden’s quality. In 2020, he even won a cap for the Belgian national team despite only being 21 years of age.

Vanheusden, who initially joined Inter’s youth academy system from that of Standard in 2015, has never managed to play his way into the Nerazzurri first team.

It would be hard to say whether he would have done so without injury problems.

But at the very least, the Belgian would have had his chances. And if not at Inter, Vanheusden always looked to have a positive future in the game somewhere.

Zinho Vanheusden Finding His Feet Again Back At Standard Liege

In the 2021-22 season, Vanheusden was on loan with Genoa.

However, the Belgian missed several months of that season with injuries – muscle and knee issues mainly.

Then, last season Vanheusden was on loan at AZ Alkmaar.

However, the Inter-owned defender suffered a broken foot in that campaign.

Moreover, Vanheusden struggled to really break into the AZ first team even when he was fully fit.

Therefore, it has been hard for the 24-year-old to gain any momentum.

Vanheusden’s best periods to date have come at his boyhood club Standard.

There, the Belgian has put together very strong sequences of performance and largely stayed fit.

It was during the 2020-21 season back at Standard when Vanheusden received a call-up for Belgium.

Therefore, it was not too surprising to see Vanheusden head back to Standard on loan during the summer. If there was anywhere that he was going to find his form again, it was there.

And so far, that is exactly how things have worked out for the 24-year-old.

So far this season Vanheusden has made a total of fifteen appearances, fourteen of which have been in the league.

And Standard have an option to sign the defender back on a permanent basis at the end of the campaign for a fee of €7 million.

And the Corriere reports that, based on Vanheusden’s positive start to the season, there is every chance that the Belgian club will do just that.