Timothy Castagne

Timothy Castagne (born 5 December 1995) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for club Fulham and the Belgium national team.

Castagne began his senior career with Genk after graduating from the club's youth academy. After moving to Italy with Atalanta in 2017, he was signed by English side Leicester City in 2020, with whom he won the FA Cup in 2021. He joined Fulham in 2023.

Castagne represented Belgium at various youth levels before making his debut for the senior team in 2018. He was part of Belgium's squad at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024.

Early career
Born in Arlon, Belgian Luxembourg, Castagne began playing football for local clubs US Waltzing and Lorrain Arlon before moving to the youth academy of Virton, the largest club in the province. He practised with the youth teams of Standard Liège after going to a boarding school in the area, but continued to play matches at Virton at the weekend.

Genk
In 2011, Castagne moved to Genk, after Standard decided not to recruit him permanently. In June 2013, he signed a professional contract for three years at Genk. In January 2014, then Genk coach Mario Been included him in training camp with the first team after leaving a good impression, which meant that he was definitively included in the first team in the second half of the season. He made his Belgian Pro League debut under new head coach Alex McLeish on 14 September 2014 as a starter against Club Brugge. On 2 May 2015, Castagne scored his first senior goal in a 7–1 home win.

Atalanta
In July 2017, he joined Serie A club Atalanta in a €6 million deal, after Andrea Conti had left Atalanta for Milan. He scored his first goal for the Bergamo team on 2 January 2018, in Coppa Italia win over Napoli.

After a first season of adaptation, his play improved in the first half of the second season, and on 27 August 2018, he scored his first goal in the Serie A in a 3–3 draw against Roma. Alternating with Hans Hateboer on the right wing-back, he scored 4 goals in the league overall; the others came in the second leg against Roma, and in two important end-of-season victories against Lazio (1–3), and Genoa (2–1).

The following year he continued to alternate with Hateboer, scoring two goals in all competitions: on 22 September 2019, he scored the equalising goal in the 95th minute against Fiorentina in a 2–2 draw, and the other in the UEFA Champions League in which he scored the first goal in a 0–3 win against Shakhtar Donetsk which allowed the Nerazzurri to advance to the round of 16.

During three years at Atalanta, Castagne made 96 appearances and scored 8 goals in all competitions. His farewell was motivated by a difficult relationship with the coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

Leicester City
On 3 September 2020, Castagne completed a move to Premier League club Leicester City on a 5-year deal. On 13 September 2020, he scored his first goal for Leicester City in a 3–0 win over West Bromwich Albion; hence, he became the fifth Belgian player to score on his Premier League debut, after Luc Nilis, Thomas Vermaelen, Christian Benteke and Leandro Trossard.

Fulham
On 29 August 2023, following Leicester's relegation to the Championship the previous season, Premier League side Fulham announced the signing of Castagne on a four-year contract, with an option for a further year, for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £15 million. On 21 April 2024, he scored his first goal for Fulham in a 3–1 loss to Liverpool.

International career
Castagne made his international debut for Belgium on 7 September 2018 in a friendly against Scotland, as a starter.

On 22 March 2019, he provided an assist for his now Leicester team mate Youri Tielemans in a 3–1 win against Russia in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers.

On 12 June 2021, in the 25th minute of Belgium's opening game of the UEFA Euro 2020 against Russia, he collided head-to-head with Daler Kuzyayev. Both had to be substituted. Castagne suffered a double eye-socket fracture and had to leave the tournament.

International

 * Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first.

Honours
Leicester City
 * FA Cup: 2020–21