De Bock: Laurence Henry Cristine (Laurens)

2018-Current (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

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Born: Dendermonde, Belgium: 07-11-1992

Debut: Millwall (h): 20-01-2018

5'10" 11st 12lb (2018)

Born in Dendermonde and played football from a very early age. He started in 1997 with HO Kalken and stayed with them for three years, before joining nearby Standard Wetteren. He came to the notice of KSC Lokeren at the age of eleven in 2003 and he was able to combined playing with them and his academic studies at the Flanders school in Ghent, renowned as one of the best sporting education facilities in Belgium. He spent six years in the various youth teams at KSC Lokeren and was rewarded by his progress when manager Georges Leekens included the then 16-year-old De Bock in a first team squad during the 2008-09 season. He had already been capped at Under-Sixteen level by Belgium, sitting on the bench for the 3-1 in Ukraine on 28th January 2008 before making his debut the following day in a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan in which he played a full game of eighty minutes. He played another thirty-three minutes in a 0-3 defeat in Turkey on 2nd February 2008, then had another full game in a 0-1 loss in Poland on 3rd March 2008 and just two minutes two days later in a 1-1 home draw with Slovakia but two days later he had another full game in a 1-1 draw in Ukraine. He was then involved in two high scoring home draws with Sweden with a full game in a 4-4 draw on 22nd April 2008 and then for ten minutes in a 3-3 draw two days later. He took his caps to nine with two full games in Northern Ireland, as Belgium were defeated 1-2 on 3rd May 2008 and then won 1-0 two days later. In the 2008-09 season he moved up to the Belgium Under-Seventeens and gained fourteen caps of which ten were full games of eighty minutes. He made his debut on 27th August 2008 when he played twenty-eight minutes in a 3-4 home loss to the Czech Republic. Next day he played in a 0-0 home draw with Ukraine and two days later in a home 2-4 defeat by Norway. He then played sixty minutes in a 0-2 home defeat by Austria on 18th September 2008 and two days later he played in a 5-2 win in Liechtenstein and three days later in a 2-0 home win over Northern Ireland. On 11th January 2009 Ukraine defeated Belgium 0-3, three days later saw a 1-0 win in Belarus, two days later he played just two minutes in a 3-0 win in Lithuania and two days later, on 17th January 2009 Belgium were held 0-0 at home by Finland. A visit to Luxemburg resulted in a 0-0 draw on 25th February 2009. March 2009 saw three more to bring his total to fourteen. On 12th there was a 2-2 draw in Spain, two days later they entertained Czech Republic and it finished 2-2. On 17th a trip to Kazakhstan saw a 5-0 victory and while he only played sixty-four minutes, he celebrated by scoring his first International goal. The following campaign (2009-10) he made his first-team debut under new manager Emilio Ferrera playing five Jupiler Pro League PlayOff games and managing to play 375 minutes as he received plenty of experience. In that season he had moved upwards in the International age groups to Under-Eighteen and scored once in ten games of which six were full games. He started with forty-five minutes in a 3-1 home win over Luxemburg on 16th September 2009. Next came two home games with Russia, firstly on 24th November 2009 in a 0-1 defeat and then two days later in a 3-2 win, in which De Bock found the net. There were four games in quick succession in January 2010, as Belgium won 2-1 in Uzbekistan on 4th, two days later a home game with Russia brought a 0-4 defeat, in a game that he played sixty-three minutes. Two days later Belgium got back to winning ways with a 3-1 home win over Belarus, then two days after that he played twenty-two minutes in a 1-2 home defeat by Turkey. On 11th March 2010a home game with Poland saw a 2-0 victory. In the final two games Belgium were defeated 0-1 by Croatia at home on 27th April 2010 and two days later he played seventy-seven minutes in a 2-0 win in Russia. In the 2010-11 season he established himself in the KSC Lokeren first team, playing twice in the Beker van Belgie, sixteen in the Jupiler Pro League and nine in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs. He also moved up into the Belgium Under-Nineteens, playing ten times of which eight were full games and once being an unused on the bench. His debut was in a 2-0 win in Montenegro on 10th August 2010 and two days later he played forty-five minutes in a 1-0 win against the same opposition. There were three games in quick succession starting on 2nd September 2010 with a 1-1 home draw with Denmark in which De Bock scored the Belgian goal, as he played seventy-eight minutes. Four days later a home game with Portugal saw a 2-2 draw and two days later he was unused on the bench as Portugal scored twice without reply. A 4-1 home win over Cyprus was the start of three games more in quick succession on 8th October 2010 was followed two days later by a 2-0 home win over Albania and a 2-1 win in England on 13th October 2010. It finished with three more games in July as Belgium fell 1-4 in Spain on 21st, before two 1-1 draws, the first three days later in Turkey then on 26th July 2011 at home to Serbia. He had his first taste of success as KSC Lokeren lifted the Beker van Belgie in 2011-12, with De Bock playing in six games. He also played twenty-three games in the Jupiler Pro League and six more in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs. He scored his first and only goal for the club when he scored the second goal after eighty-five minutes in the 2-0 away win at KV Mechelen on 24th September 2011. He made the first of his twelve appearances for the Belgian Under-Twenty-Ones, when he played a full game on 29th February 2012 as Belgium were well beaten by 0-4 in England. He had played one full game in the Belgian Super Cup, two in the Europa League, once in the Beker van Belgie and twenty-one in the Jupiler Pro League for KSC Lokeren and had brought his Belgian Under-Tweny-One caps to four when he played a full game in a 1-0 win in Scotland on 14th August 2012, but his forty-four minute appearance in a 1-3 home defeat by Norway on 6th September 2013 was followed by a full game in a 1-3 defeat in Greece on 12th October 2013 and then he was unused on the bench two days later in a 1-4 defeat in Israel before he left his first professional club and sealed his move to Brugge on 5th January 2013, despite rumours of rival interest from fellow Belgian club Anderlecht, when he signed a four year contract and KSC Lokeren received £3m from Brugge. He had scored once in forty-two starts and eight games from the bench in the League. He had also been called up by the Belgian National team and had sat unused on the bench in a 1-2 defeat by Romania at the National Arena Bucharest on 14th November 2012. In his first season with Club Brugge KV he played four games in the Jupiler Pro League and seven games in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs and took his Under-Twenty-One caps to five with a full game on 25th March 2013 in a 2-0 home win over Cyprus. In his first full season with his new club he played twice in the Europa League Qualifiers and once in the Beker van Belgie and in the Jupiler Pro League he played twenty-four games and nine in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs. He made six more appearances for the Belgium Under-Twenty-Ones to take him to eleven in total. He played forty-six minutes in the 1-1 home draw with Israel on 13th August 2013 and then sat unused on the bench as Belgium went to Italy and won 3-1 on 5th September 2013 and four days later he played a full game as Belgium defeated Northern Ireland 1-0 at home. He played a full game in his other four games, the first on 11th October 2013 seeing a repeat of the score line as Belgium visited Northern Ireland while thre days later they went down 0-1 to Italy at home. On 15th November there was a 2-2 draw as they travelled to Serbia, but curiously when Serbia travelled to Belgium the score line was 0-3 on 5th March 2014. In the 2014-15 season he played Twenty-eight times in the Jupiler Pro League, eight times in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs and five times in the Beker van Belgie, which Club Brugge KV won. He also played twice in the Europa League Qualifiers and then eleven times in the Europa League and scored the third goal in the seventy-eighth minute of a 3-0 away win over HJK Helsinki on 2nd October 2014 in a Group B match. He played his final Belgian Under-Twenty-One International at Centre Back in a 6-0 win in Cyprus on 5th September 2014 in which he was replaced by Brandon Mechele. He was recalled into the senior Belgium squad as injury cover for Vincent Kompany in their UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier campaign and on 11th November 2014, in a Friendly against Iceland, at the Roi Baudouin Stadion in Brussels and he sat unused on the bench as they won 3-1. Four days later he again sat unused on the bench for the third and final time as Wales held them to a 0-0 draw at the same venue. In 2015-16 he played twenty-two games in the Jupiler Pro League and then nine in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs, as they won the Belgian Championship. He scored Club Brugge KV's second goal in those play-offs as they took the lead with five minutes on the clock at the Jan-Breydel-Stadion on 22nd May 2016 but KV Oostende equalised in the final minute. He also played four games in the Beker van Belgie, one in the Belgian Super Cup Final, in which they were defeated 0-1 at Ghent on 16th July 2015 and four in the UEFA Champions League Qualification and four in the Europa League. In 2016-17 he played in one game on 23rd July 2016 as Club Brugge KV won the Belgian Super Cup by defeating Standard Liege 2-1, thirteen games in the Jupiler Pro League and five in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOffs, two in the Beker van Belgie and three in the UEFA Champions League. Even thought he signed a three year contract in the summer of 2017, he was now not always sure of his place in the team and in 2017-18, he had amassed on six starts in the Jupiler Pro League and one each in the Europa League Qualifiers and one in the UEFA Champions League Qualification. Therefore with De Bock looking to gain regular football and Leeds in desparate need of a Left Back as cover for Gaetano Berardi due to the poor form of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Vurnon Anita not living up to expectations and both Tyler Denton and Tom Pearce lacking experience, a bid of £1.5m solved both problems on 11th January 2018. He was not included in the squad for the game at Ipswich Town two days later and made his debut on 20th January 2018 in the home encounter with Millwall, which Leeds lost by 3-4. He maintained his place at Left Back for the next five matches with full games as United failed to win any of them with a 0-0 draw at Hull City, a 1-4 home defeat by Cardiff City, a 1-2 defeat at Sheffield United, and two 2-2 draws at home to Bristol City and away to Derby County. By general concensus he had a shocking game at Pride Park and was dropped from the squad to play in the 1-0 home win over Brentford, but was recalled to the squad for the 0-3 loss to Middlesbrough, but sat unused on the bench. He was not included in the squad for the 0-3 capitulation at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, but was recalled for a full game at Left Back in the 2-2 away draw at Reading on 10th March 2018. It was to be his final game of the season as Paul Heckingbottom declared that he had a hamstring injury and Tom Pearce would make his debut at Left Back in the home game with Sheffield Wednesday on 17th March 2018. On 28th March 2018, two days prior to the next game at home to Bolton Wanderers the Leeds Manager revealed that De Bock would be out "longer term" with a damaging hamstring tear which caused him to feel discomfort and pain and that he would be unlikely to play again that season. This proved to be the case. Before leaving the club in June Heckingbottom told De Bock he could leave the club. New Manager Marcelo Bielsa was not so forthright and was prepared to hand him a chance to prove himself. De Bock was of the opinion that he had a good pre-season but the signing of Barry Douglas meant that his first chances would be extremely limited and he sought chances elsewhere. The Israeli club Beitar were believed to be interested, bur eventually he went on loan to Belgian side KV Oostende on 21st August 2018, on a season long loan, with no option to buy, after having featured, firstly in a full game in a 1-1 draw at York City on 19th July, then for sixty-two minutes in the 1-1 draw at Southend on three days later, and a 4-3 win at Guiseley on 26th July. He made his debut for his new club in a 0-1 defeat at St Truiden in 1st September 2018 and a second a fortnight later in a 1-1 home draw with Cercle Bruges.

(To 2017/18)