IN addition to copious amounts of strong lager, Scotland has imported some notable Belgian footballers over the years.

Frederic Frans, an affable big guy who made his name at Lierse, joined a catalogue of Old Firm stars from that kingdom such as Jason Denayer, Joos Valgaeren, and Thomas Buffel, when he arrived in Glasgow on a short-term deal at Partick Thistle last month.

Today's opponents, Aberdeen, have also dabbled in the Belgian market, taking Roberto Bisconti for a couple of seasons after the turn of the millennium. The international midfielder's most recent dalliance with fame came when he went on the run in an attempt to avoid a jail sentence for fraud. Dieter van Tornhout was another who had a short but eventful stay in Scottish football, his header against Celtic winning Kilmarnock the only League Cup in the Ayrshire club's 145-year history.

On the strength of clean sheets in his two appearances for Thistle, Frans, 25, already looks like a fine addition to the list. Having played international football up until Under-20 level, it is bad luck and bad injuries that has diverted this member of Belgium's so-called Golden Generation to Glasgow.

"I played for the national team up until the 21s," said Frans, speaking at Pizza Express, the sponsors of the club's 50/50 tickets. "I played with Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld, Christian Benteke, all these guys. They are there and I'm here, but that's football. We don't speak so much now. If I see them it's friendly, but it's not like we text.

"Of course you could see how good they were. Hazard was two or three years younger than us and he was already playing with us and was amazing. Alderweireld was on the bench in the national team and I was playing ahead of him when I was 17 and in the first team at Lierse and he was still with the Under-21s at Ajax. He was always telling me how he wanted to play in the first team like me, but I kept telling him he was at Ajax and he should take his time.

"Was there something they did that I didn't? Maybe it was because I was always at a small club. Or maybe the youth academy at Ajax was more technical. Also I had bad luck, because I had two big knee injuries in a row so I missed two seasons, one when I was 20 and one at 22. In different knees. That's how football goes."

Frans could have moved to the German Bundesliga or Standard Liege in his homeland had injury not come along, or this summer moved to Leeds if manager Dave Hockaday had not been removed a day before he was due to join. But this is a young man content with the hand fate has dealt him, loving life in Glasgow with wife Valerie, savouring a haggis supper as much as his moules frites.

"The Scottish league is more physical than the Belgian league, maybe the ball is more in the air," said the central defender. "The game is like 90 minutes of 200 miles per hour whereas in Belgium it's more tactical and some teams try to play more football. You have to adjust, but I think it suits me.

"People have told me Aberdeen are a very good team. We have done well against the smaller teams, but you have to prove yourself also in the bigger games so I am looking forward to doing that."

As well as gaining a beginners' guide to Scottish football from Charlie Miller when he was at Lierse during the 2007-08 season, Frans spent last season in the company of Tony Watt, a turb-ulent spell which included numerous rows between the Celtic youth prodigy and club manager Stanley Menzo. The 20-year-old has started just twice since a £1.2 million move from Celtic to Standard Liege this summer, but Frans expects big things.

"He was a success last year," said Frans. "It was unbelievable how he did. He deserved his transfer to Standard, but they are not an easy team to play for because they normally play to be the champions and right now they are eighth or ninth. If the team start doing well, he will also because the style of Standard suits him."

As for his own future, Frans plans to be the author of his own success. "Me and my wife believe we will get what we deserve," he said. "We believe in karma, so it will come back to us and now we will get luck. Everything that has happened, it brought me here and we enjoy it so much, not only the football but the life next to the football. Everything happened for a good reason."