Belgian international Ritchie de Laet started his football career professionally in his native Belgium in the colours of Royal Antwerp before moving to England. He signed for Stoke City in August 2007 for a deal reported to be around  £100,000 as the initial fee. While he was a Stoke City player, Ritchie de Laetwent on trial at South Coast club Bournemouth and he was involved in a friendly game loss at the hands of rivals Portsmouth in July 2008. He was in the Bournemouth team that lost 4-1 to the former FA Cup winners.

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Ritchie de Laet returned to Stoke City after his unsuccessful trial at Bournemouth before signing a loan deal with Wrexham in the Conference National in October 2008. De Laetjoined Wrexham on a one-month loan deal from Stoke City and he went on to play his first game for the Welsh club in a 2-0 victory over Lewes. The Belgian defender played two more games for Wrexham before leaving the club early due to the need for him to undergo hernia operation. He was at Stoke City until Premier League giants Manchester United signed him at the start of 2009.

Manchester United were Premier League champions at the time and they signed Ritchie de Laetfrom Stoke City and the agreement reached was that his transfer fee would be based on his appearances for the Red Devils. He signed a three-year deal with the three-time European champions. De Laet was a regular for the reserve team at Old Trafford until he made his debut for the club in a Premier League encounter at Hull City in May 2009. Ritchie de Laet was named as the starting left-back for the Red Devils in the final game of the 2008/09 campaign. He played two more times for Manchester United in the league before signing for Leicester City in 2012.