Thomas Meunier

Thomas Meunier is a professional Belgium footballer who plays at right back position. The young lad is probably one of the fastest emerging players in the world.

He is a prominent member of the Belgium national team and has also been a part of their junior teams in his early days. He has played for the clubs like Standard Liege, Virton and Club Brugge, and is currently playing for French based club, Paris Saint-Germain.

Background

Thomas was born on 12 September 1991 in Sainte-Ode, Province of Luxembourg, Belgium. He began his youth career in 1996 while playing for a local club, RUS Sainte-Ode. After having a spell of 6 years, he switched to RUS Givry.

His exceptional skills helped him to move further to popular clubs like Standard Liege and Virton.

Senior career

After spending 3 years in the youth setup of Virton, he got the opportunity of making his professional debut with the club in 2009 in the Belgium third division. In his tenure of 2 years, Meunier made a total of 52 appearances and scored 16 goals in all the competitions for the club.

In 2011, he was signed by Club Brugge for a transfer fee of 200,000 euros. Thomas impressed against Westerlo, in his debut match, and scored a goal in the final 20 minutes in which he played.

At the end of the 2011–12 season, Meunier’s goal against Genk earned him third place for Goal of the Season. He soon became a strong member of the team and was very instrumental in the club’s victory in the Belgian Cup 2015.

He was adjudged Footballer of the year for his exceptional contribution. In his tenure of 5 years, he made 149 appearance and scored at 14 times.

In 2016, Meunier was signed by PSG for a 4 year spell for a transfer fee of 7 million euros.

He led PSG to victory in several matches by his quick passings and sharp control over ball, some of crucial ones are- against Bordeaux in a 2-0 home win, against Barcelona in a 4-0 win, against AS Monaco in 2-1 win in Trophee des Champions, and many more.

As a captain

On 30 November 2015, Thomas was named the captain of Club Brugge for the first time and he the club put up a 4–1 win over KV Mechelen. He then set up two goals in a 6–0 win over Westerlo, followed up by scoring again, in a 3–2 loss against Genk.

International career

Thomas was a part of U15 and U21 national teams of belgium in his early days and was soon called the more intense national duty- core senior side. He made his debut on 14 November 2013, against Colombia, in a friendly match. He was the part of squad in the Euro Cup 2016 and played 5 games of the country and kept a clean sheet in all of these.

He scored his first senior international goal against Estonia in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. In the following qualifier match, he scored his maiden hat-trick in the Belgium’s 9-0 victory over Gibraltar.