Football Season Guide

Club Brugge

In


Josef Bursik (gk) Hibernians – end of loan; Ludovit Reis (mid) Hamburger; Cisse Sandra (mid) Willem II – end of loan; Nicolò Tresoldi (att) Hannover 96;

Out


Maxim De Cuyper (r) (def) Brighton; Chemsdine Talbi (r) (att) Sunderland; Casper Nielsen (sp) (mid) Standard Liege; Ferran Jutglà (sp) (att) Celta Vigo;

Club Brugge failed to defend their title last season but they still finished as runner-ups. It was the slow start and 3 defeats inside the opening 10 rounds that proved costly in the end. Club trailed KRC Genk by 9 points at the end of the regular season. Just like a year earlier Blue and Blacks had impressive play-off run (7 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat) but this wasn’t enough with eventual champions Union Saint-Gilloise doing even better. Despite selling their star striker last summer and having their marquee signing Gustaf Nilsson injured for nearly half of last season Club still had the best scoring record – 86 goals in 40 league matches. Greek winger Christos Tzolis had an impressive first season at Club. He finished with 15 goals and 11 assists. Teenage full-back Joaquin Seys also had a breakthrough year. Both of them are expected to remain key figures this season too. Captain Hans Vanaken is now 33-years-old but he too still has a key role to play as the primary ball-distributor. The main departures so far had been that of right-back De Cuyper and young winger Talibi. Sabbe and Siquiet are expected to compete for the right to start at right-back now. Both are promising young players. As for Talibi’s position South African prodigy Shandre Campbell could easily become the new bright young star to emerge from Club. He joined only last February and after settling in has been impressive all pre-season – 2 goals and 5 assists. Coach Hayen rarely veers from his favourite 4-2-3-1 shape and he is not likely to change that. If Nilsson stays fit Club should be among the highest-scoring teams yet again.

Target


Reclaiming the title is the main priority. Should easily secure another top 3 finish no matter what.