Jackers Exits as Vanden Driessche Takes Second Spot at Club Brugge

Nordin Jackers walked into this season expecting a battle. He now finds himself without a real fight to have.

The 29-year-old goalkeeper, once seen as a credible contender to succeed Simon Mignolet, has slipped to third choice at Club Brugge. With January approaching, the message is blunt: if he wants to play, he will almost certainly have to go.

The arrival of Yann Sommer from Inter always meant compromise for Jackers. Second choice behind a Champions League veteran is a role many keepers accept, especially at a club with Brugge’s ambitions. That was the plan. Wait, push, be ready.

That plan has been torn up.

According to HLN, Ivan Leko has now installed 19-year-old Argus Vanden Driessche as Sommer’s deputy. The teenager, highly rated inside the club, has vaulted ahead of Jackers in the pecking order and is now officially number two.

It is a bold call. And it comes at a delicate moment.

Sommer’s start to life at Club Brugge has been mixed. He produced key saves at the weekend against Antwerp, the kind that underline his pedigree, but he also carried the blame for the goal Brugge conceded. Errors from a new goalkeeper can open doors for those behind him. Instead, they have underlined how much faith the staff have in Vanden Driessche.

For a 19-year-old to be promoted so quickly, with a proven professional like Jackers pushed down, says everything about how Brugge view their young Belgian.

For Jackers, it feels like a dead end.

He has done his job whenever called upon, stepping in for Mignolet and performing well enough to convince sections of the Club Brugge support that he could handle the starting role this season. That backing from parts of the fanbase has not translated into trust from the bench.

At 29, the situation is stark. Third choice is not a project; it is a pause button on a career. Training-ground sharpness and the odd cup appearance cannot satisfy a goalkeeper who still harbours ambitions of being a regular starter.

The market will not ignore him. His performances since arriving from OH Leuven have been solid, and clubs across the Belgian Pro League know exactly what they would be getting: a reliable, experienced keeper, still in his prime years.

Club Brugge have made their bet on Sommer and the future in Vanden Driessche. The next move belongs to Jackers.