Meet Cork City's new recruit - Liam Bossin

Every transfer window in the League of Ireland throws up a few, 'Who's that lad?’ signings, especially those coming from other shores. However, in the case of Belgian born former Anderlecht goalkeeper Liam Bossin, it’s even more intriguing.

So, in order to save you some googling, this a background on Cork City's newest goalkeeping recruit.  Born in the summer of 1996, in a Brussels suburb, to a Belgian father and a mother from Carrick on Suir, a young Bossin began his career at local club White Star, earning a spot in the senior squad for the 2012/13 season, where his manager was Felice Mazzu – who recently parted company with Genk in the middle of their Champions League adventure.

After a number of appearances for the Second Division side, Bossin was picked up by Anderlecht in the summer of 2013. In the same transfer window, they lost Bossin, White Star signed Kylian Hazard- Eden’s younger brother.

While finding his feet with Anderlecht's underage squad, he was called into the Republic of Ireland Under 19 side by Paul Doolin in February 2014, following a recommendation from the Anderlecht Youth Academy coach Jean Kindermans.

Incidentally another goalkeeper in the squad was Eric Grimes who recently spent time on the books of both Cork City and Derry City after arriving home from Leeds United, while Corkman Alan Browne was another from the parish to be named in the squad for the clashes with Romania. (Pencilled in for Turner’s Cross and Blarney United respectively).

Bossin debuted in the Blarney clash – a two-all draw which saw goals from Sam Byrne (x2) for the Irish cancelled by a deflected own goal and a strike from George Puscas. Incidentally, this summer Puscas joined Reading in a deal worth over eight million pounds where Waterford's John O’Shea is a first team coach.

Bossin kept a clean sheet at Tallaght Stadium in September 2014 as Doolin's charges beat the Netherlands in a friendly- a side coached by Aaron Winter and containing Ajax's Donny Van der Been alongside current Crystal Palace player Jairo Riedewald. The match report from extratime.ie can be accessed here.

The 2014/15 campaign continued in fine stead for the keeper as he fought it out with Mile Svilar between the sticks in Anderlecht’s European Youth League campaign where opponents included Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona amongst others, before suffering defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk at the semi final stage. The club were also beaten by AC Milan in the final of the Viareggio Cup.

Svilar, who joined Benfica in 2017, became the youngest goalkeeper to play in the Champions League, as well as the youngest to save a penalty when he stopped Anthony Martial's effort in October 2017. Bossin impressed the Anderlecht hierarchy enough to be rewarded with a two year professional deal in May 2015.

Following the conclusion of the 2014/15 club season Bossin made his Republic of Ireland against England C in June 2015, replacing the aforementioned Eric Grimes at half time. Similar to his U19 debut, he was beaten with a deflected effort and conceded twice with honorary Corkonian Seán Maguire (A West Ham player on loan at Sligo at the time) netting for Ireland.

Bossin continued to develop his reputation in Belgium and was involved in the Republic of Ireland squad against Slovenia in autumn 2016 when Maguire again scored in the 2-0 Irish win at the RSC. At this stage of his career, the 20-year-old keeper had been prevented by Anderlecht from leaving on loan and was seeking a move to England according to this piece by Aidan Fitzmaurice. 

His wish came true in the summer of 2017 as he signed for Nottingham Forest of the English Championship where he played regularly for the Under 23 squad, facing other ROI Underage stars throughout the U23 Premier League, including Adam Idah, Josh Cullen and Aaron Connolly, and he was part of a number of Irish Under 21 squads in 2017 and 2018. He trialled with Swindon Town in their friendly against a Manchester United XI last summer and was announced by Cork City on December 20^th.