A promising young player at Germinal Beerschot, a club on the outskirts of Antwerp in Belgium, Jan had the chance to join Ajax’s famed academy in Amsterdam, Holland.
In football terms, it was the chance of a lifetime, but it also meant not just moving home, but moving country and moving away from everything he knew and loved growing up in Belgium.
“It was a very hard choice to make,” reflected Jan as he prepared to face KAA Gent, a local team to him growing up in Sint-Niklaas, between Gent and Antwerp, in this evening's Europa League Round of 32 second leg at Wembley.