Ritchie De Laet

Ritchie Ria Alfons De Laet (, born 28 November 1988) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Royal Antwerp in the Belgian First Division A.

De Laet played for various youth teams before joining the Royal Antwerp youth academy, where he was eventually picked up by Stoke City in 2007.

Two years later, De Laet was signed by Premier League champions Manchester United where he mainly appeared for the reserves besides being sent on loan spells.

On 17 August 2007, he signed a three-year contract with Championship team Stoke City for an initial £100,000 fee.

In July 2008, De Laet joined AFC Bournemouth on trial and played his first game in a friendly against Portsmouth, a 4–1 defeat.

However, he later returned to Stoke.

In October 2008, he joined Wrexham of the Conference National on a one-month loan deal, making his debut in a 2–0 victory over Lewes in the league.

He made three appearances during his time at the club before his loan spell was terminated in order for him to undergo a hernia operation.

De Laet made his international debut for Belgium in 2009, and gained two caps for the national team.

Born in Antwerp, De Laet began his career at Belgian club Royal Antwerp.

On 8 January 2009, De Laet was signed by Premier League champions Manchester United on a three-year contract.

The fee to be paid by Manchester United depended on appearances.

After joining United, De Laet played exclusively for the club's reserve team.

In March 2009, De Laet was named as one of five over-age players in the Manchester United under-18 squad for the Torneo Calcio Memorial Claudio Sassi-Sassuolo; he played in three of the five matches, and scored a penalty in the 5–3 semi-final penalty shoot-out win over Modena to take the Red Devils into the final, in which they beat Ajax 1–0.

De Laet made his first appearance for the Manchester United first team on 24 May 2009, when he was named at left back for the last game of the 2008–09 Premier League season against Hull City.

In the 2009–10 season, De Laet featured in the League Cup, coming on as a substitute against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Barnsley in the third and fourth rounds and starting against Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth.

Despite a defensive injury crisis in November 2009, Alex Ferguson preferred to bring midfielder Michael Carrick on for Gary Neville ahead of De Laet, after the United captain suffered a groin strain in the next league match away to West Ham United on 5 December.

He then played his first league game of the 2009–10 season on 15 December against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

De Laet played his second league game against Fulham on 19 December, which ended in a 3–0 defeat.

On 4 May 2010, he was voted as the Denzil Haroun Reserve Team Player of the Year, beating Oliver Gill and Magnus Wolff Eikrem to the award.

In September 2010, De Laet joined Championship side Sheffield United on a 30-day emergency loan deal after the Blades suffered a defensive injury crisis, with both Chris Morgan and Rob Kozluk ruled out for several weeks.

De Laet returned to Old Trafford at the end of his month having made six appearances for the Blades.

On 17 November 2010, De Laet joined Championship team Preston North End on a 28-day loan after an injury to first-team defender Callum Davidson.

On 14 January 2011, De Laet joined Portsmouth of the Championship on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season.

On 17 June 2011, De Laet joined newly promoted Premier League side Norwich City on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season.

He made his debut in a 1–1 draw at Wigan Athletic, conceding the penalty for the Wigan goal.

However, he redeemed himself with a number of excellent blocks to retain the scoreline.

On 21 August, he scored his first goal for Norwich against former club Stoke City in a 1–1 draw.

This was also De Laet's first senior goal.

De Laet was sidelined with a back injury whilst at Norwich.

He made his return from injury on 27 December 2011 against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2–0 loss.

In 2012, he joined Leicester City where he played more consistently and was part of the historic team winning the 2015–16 Premier League.

On 18 January 2012, he returned to United after Norwich cancelled his loan.

On 14 May 2012, De Laet signed a three-year deal with Leicester City.

He was joined at Leicester by fellow United player Matty James, who signed on the same day.

De Laet scored his first goal for Leicester shortly before half time in the 6–1 thrashing of Huddersfield Town on 1 January 2013.

He scored his second just four days later, against Burton Albion in the first round of the FA Cup.

De Laet ended his first season with Leicester having played 46 games and scoring twice in all competitions, steering City into the Championship play-offs.

In the 2013–14 season, he helped Leicester gain promotion back to the top flight playing regularly in the first team once more.

He then had a three-year stint with Aston Villa, before returning to Royal Antwerp in 2019.