Anthony Vanden Borre
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anthony Vanden Borre | ||
| Position(s) | Right Back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Fiorentina | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:00, 17 November 2006 | |||
Anthony Vanden Borre (born October 24, 1987) is a Belgian footballer currently playing at ACF Fiorentina. His natural position is at right back but he is also comfortable slotting in at centre back or as a central midfielder where his range of passing and vision can be used to great effect. He has appeared for the Belgium national football team, making his national team debut on April 28, 2004 in a friendly against Turkey where he replaced Eric Deflandre in the 90th minute. He made his debut for the senior Anderlecht squad in 2003. Anthony was a product of the Anderlecht youth system, having playing through the youth ranks since the age of 8.
In 2005 he drew attention to himself in a Champions League game against Chelsea, when he had the best attempt on goal for Anderlecht as they lost 1-0 to the English champions, striking Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech's post around midway through the game. He finally scored his first official goal at home against K.S.V. Roeselare in a 5-1 win when he opened the scoring on September 21, 2005.
Throughout 2006 and 2007, Anthony had been reportedly chased by various European teams such as Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Portsmouth, Inter, Barcelona and Juventus. However, Anthony decided to join Fiorentina, completing his move on 1 June 2007.
Vanden Borre is also a popular player among those who play the football managing game Football Manager 2007, as he can be bought for a relatively cheap price and trained into one of the world's best right/center backs.
One of his friends is Vincent Kompany, who is one year older than Anthony and a great talent as well.