In Ekeren, the Antwerp suburb where Alderweireld was raised, a petition is gathering momentum for a removed statue of Leopold to be replaced by one of Alderweireld himself.
“I would never say, ‘This is a good time to put up a statue of me,’ because I don’t think I will ever deserve a statue,” says the defender, “but I think it’s good to look at the history and learn from it.
“It’s the same with history from the world wars. Of course, I’m disgusted about all the things that have involved racism and I will never understand it — but taking a statue down? I’m not going to get involved in that but all I will say is we have to look to that period and what went wrong so we never get in that situation again.”
He adds that when he heard about the idea of an Alderweireld monument, “I thought it was some kind of joke — people are actually signing the petition?
“If they really wanted to I would never say no because I would be honoured. But I will not sign my own petition! Of all the people who have, I think about 80 per cent are my friends.”