Arthur Nicolas Theate (born 25 May 2000) is a Belgian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for club

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

and the Belgium national team.

Club career

Early years

Theate played youth football for Alliance Melen-Micheroux,

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...

, Genk and Standard Liège. Until reaching the under-14 level, he played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

at Eupen. At Genk, he was repositioned as a left winger after the arrival of a new player, after which he moved to the position of left-back and then

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. During his time at the Genk youth academy, his future at times looked uncertain, and he was described as being physically tough, but not always refined. After three years playing for the Genk youth teams, he joined Standard Liège where he also struggled with regular

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Damjan Pavlović being played as left-back in the youth team to replace Theate. He soon returned to Genk, where he trained with the first team during the 2019–20 pre-season under head coach

Felice Mazzu Felice is a name that can be used as both a given name, masculine or feminine, and a surname. It is a common name in Italian, where it is equivalent to Felix. Notable people with the name include: Given name Arts and literature Film and theater * ...

. After this, however, Theate failed to make the cut and was demoted to the reserves. He returned to Standard in 2019, but barely a year after his return, Standard let him go again.

Oostende

In the summer of 2020, Theate saw no prospects of succeeding at Standard Liège, after which he was offered a trial with

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club Oostende. After a week of practicing with the first team, he was able to convince German coach

Alexander Blessin Alexander Blessin (born 28 May 1973) is a German professional football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Genoa. Playing career Blessin started his senior career with TSV Georgii Allianz Stuttgart. In 2001, he sig ...

of his abilities. Blessin mainly noticed his explosiveness and power, ideal for his high five-man backline and '' Gegenpressing'' tactics. Previously, Theate had not been able to convince Lommel or

Lierse Kempenzonen Lierse Kempenzonen is a Belgian association football club located in Lier, in the province of Antwerp. The club, founded in 1943 as Oosterzonen in Oosterwijk, was relocated to Lier following the bankruptcy of Lierse in 2018. They compete in ...

during trials. In July 2020, he signed a three-year contract with an option with Oostende. Theate made his debut on 10 August 2020 in the Belgian First Division A against

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen, or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the second-tier First Division B after relegating from the top tier in the 2021–22 season. In 201 ...

, featuring in starting line-up. Together with Anton Tanghe he grew into the permanent centre-back duo in the Oostende defence. On 4 October 2020, he scored his first professional goal, heading home a cross against

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

putting his team in a good position ahead of their 3–0 victory. During the winter transfer period of the 2020–21 season, Oostende received an offer for Theate of €5 million from Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, but the Belgian coastal club refused. In his first season at Oostende, he managed to qualify for European play-offs, but eventually missed out. He missed only one game due to suspension and four matches due to injury, playing the entirety of the other 27 matches. In the 2021–22 season, Theate did not make an appearance during the first two matchdays pending a possible transfer. On the third matchday of the season, he returned to the starting line-up against

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

. On 22 August 2021, he picked up a red card in his last game for Oostende against his former club Standard. Theate played a total of 40 official matches for Oostende, in which he scored five goals.

Bologna

On 26 August 2021, Theate signed with

club

on initial season-long loan, with a subsequent obligation to buy. On 18 September 2021, Theate made his Bologna debut against defending champions

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

on the fourth matchday of the season. Theate came on as a substitute in the 74th minute behind 6–0 and headed in the 6–1 final score twelve minutes later. Bologna had started the season with a four-man defense, but after conceding twelve goals in three games, coach Siniša Mihajlović started the game against

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on 3 October with five at the back with Theate as left-sided centre-back. This was also his first start for the club. Theate contributed with an assist and a goal in the 3–0 win. Theate impressed during his season at Bologna, making 31 league appearances in which he scored twice and provided one assist.

Rennes

On 29 July 2022, Theate joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

on a four-year deal, for a reported fee of €20 million, making him the most expensive Belgian defender ever, above

Thomas Vermaelen Thomas Vermaelen (born 14 November 1985) is a retired Belgian professional footballer who is currently an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Being left-footed, he usually played as a left-sided centre-back and could play at left-bac ...

's 2014 move from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

for €19 million. Theate was to succeed

Nayef Aguerd Nayef Aguerd ( ar, نايف أكرد; ber, ⵏⴰⵢⴼ ⴰⴳⵕⴹ; born 30 March 1996) is a Moroccan professional association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for Premier League club ...

who had left for West Ham United. On the first matchday of the 2022–23 Ligue 1 season, Theate made his Rennes debut in the starting lineup against Lorient. He scored an own goal in the 65th minute, which proved to be decisive in the 1–0 loss. On 21 August, Theate scored his first goal for the club against

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

, heading home the 2–1 winner. He also scored in his European debut with a strike from distance against

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group stage, as Rennes won the game 2–1. In Rennes' 1–0 league win over league leaders Paris Saint-Germain, Theate was praised for shutting down

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

in a strong performance.

International career

Theate received his first call-up to the senior Belgium squad for the

2021 UEFA Nations League Finals The 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2020–21 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the second season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UE ...

. He made his debut on 16 November 2021 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was selected for national coach Roberto Martínez's squad ahead of the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, but failed to make an appearance as the ''Red Devils'' were knocked out of the tournament at the group stages for the first time since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theate, Arthur 2000 births Living people Belgian footballers Association football defenders Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgium international footballers Belgian Pro League players Serie A players Ligue 1 players K.V. Oostende players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Stade Rennais F.C. players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France