Our fourth signing!
Arthur Vermeeren (19) is joining RB Leipzig from the Spanish top club Atlético Madrid. The central midfielder will initially be loaned for one year.
Additionally, a buy obligation was agreed upon. Said clause will take effect when Arthur Vermeeren has played a certain number of games for RB Leipzig and will then result in a permanent commitment until 2029.
The Belgian international (4 caps) will wear the number 18 shirt for the Red Bulls and will train with the team from Tuesday.
Its’ great to have you on board, Arthur!
Marcel Schäfer, Managing Sports Director
- “We are delighted that such a highly talented young player has chosen RB Leipzig, a player that has aroused the interest of many clubs in the past and now. The club has followed Arthur’s impressive path closely in recent years: he made his professional debut in Belgium at the age of just 17, then immediately took on a leading role in Royal Antwerp’s midfield and played a decisive role in his club’s cup, championship and Supercup wins.
Despite his young age, he is already a Belgian international and was also in the squad for Euro 2024. Arthur fully identifies with our path and signing him shows once again that RB Leipzig is a top destination for young, talented players.”
Rouven Schröder, Sports Director
- “Arthur is a kind of player that we don’t have in the squad yet. He now gives us a more specialized type of depth and variability in the team and additional options. He has an excellent view of his surroundings, calmness on the ball, a high level of game intelligence and a good opening of the game.
He’s also strong tackling, dynamic and has an impressive level of stamina. While dealing for him. we clearly sensed his will and ambition to bring his game onto the pitch in order to achieve our ambitions with us.”
Arthur Vermeeren
- “From now on, I’m a Red Bull and very happy about my move to RB Leipzig: a club that has managed to become one of the top clubs in the UEFA Champions League and the Bundesliga in a very short space of time.
RB Leipzig has an excellent reputation in European football as a club for young players who can develop here at the highest level.
Lois Openda and Maarten Vandevoordt are two guys in Leipzig I know well. There are also many French-speaking players in the team, which will help me integrate. I am very excited to be on the pitch with the team starting tomorrow, to learn from the many top players and, at the end of the day, help deliver a season that is as successful as possible.”
Formed in Lierse | A Double at Antwerp
- “Trained at Lierse SK, he moved to Royal Antwerp’s youth academy via KE Mechelen in 2018. On August 11, 2022, he made his professional debut for Antwerp at the age of 17, coming on as a substitute in the 59th minute of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Arthur Vermeeren gradually established himself in the first team and was an undisputed starting player from the second half of the season. Towards the season, the crowning glory came with the Belgian Double. He played in 26 games (1 goal, 2 assists) throughout the season. In the Belgian Cup, he started in each of the six rounds up to the cup win and only missed seven cup minutes.
In July, he added a third title with Antwerp, winning the Belgian Supercup with a 6-5 win on penalties against his youth club Mechelen, scoring himself from the penalty spot to make it 3-3.
Champions League Highlights while at Royal
- As champions, Antwerp qualified directly to the UEFA Champions League and the midfielder celebrated his debut in the UCL on 19 September 2023 in the away match against FC Barcelona. Even though Antwerp were eliminated in the group stage, Arthur Vermeeren had three key moments: In the 2-3 loss against Donetsk, he set up both of his team’s goals. Visiting Porto, he led his team as captain, and in the 3-2 second leg win against Barcelona he scored his first UCL goal with the 1-0 goal.
Moving to Atlético Madrid | Playing the Euro 2024
- After thriving in Belgium, the 1.80 meter tall right-footer decided to move to Madrid and join Atlético at the end of January 2024. In the second half of the season, he played a total of five times in LaLiga.
Arthur Vermeeren was called up by Domenico Tedesco for Belgium’s EURO 2024 squad, but didn’t during the tournament held in Germany. It was also the former RBL coach Tedesco who gave Vermeeren his Belgian senior national team debut on October 13, 2023 in the 3-2 win against Austria. Before that, he had played for all of Belgium’s youth national teams (a total of 17 youth international matches).
Basic Details
- Name: Arthur Vermeeren
- Birthday: February 7, 2005
- Age: 19 years old
- Place of birth: Lier (Belgium)
- Nationality: Belgian
- Squad number: 18
- Position: central midfield
- Foot: right
- Height: 1,80 meters
Footballing performance
- Jupiler Pro League (Belgian 1st Division, incl. Playoffs): 47 matches, 2 goals, 6 assists
- UEFA Champions League (incl. Qualifiers): 8 matches, 1 goal, 3 assists
- LaLiga (Spanish 1st Division): 5 matches
- Belgian National Team: 4 matches
- Achievements: League and Cup Winner 2022/23 and Supercup Winner 2023/24 with Royal Antwerp
Clubs so far
- Starting 08/2024: RB Leipzig
- 01/2024 until 08/2024: Atlético Madrid
- 07/2022 until 01/2024: Royal Antwerp
- Youth clubs: Lierse SK, KV Mechelen, Royal Antwerp
Good to know
- Arthur Vermeeren will be the 8th player to wear the number 18 jersey for RB Leipzig. His predecessors: Fábio Carvalho, Christopher Nkunku, Emile Smith Rowe, Ademola Lookman, Terrence Boyd, Timo Röttger and Nico Frommer.
- He is the 4th Belgian RBL player in our history! There are currently two other Belgians in the squad: Lois Openda and Maarten Vandevoordt. Massimo Bruno was the first and played a total of 28 games (3 goals) for the Red Bulls from 2014 to 2016.
- The average age of our 4 new signings is 19.5 years!
- Royal Antwerp, the club for which Arthur made his professional debut, is the oldest club in Belgium.
- When he made his professional debut, he was 17 years, 6 months and 4 days old.
- He has 74.000 followers on his Instagram profile: @arthurvermeeren.
