Football Season Guide

In recent years Utrecht, thanks to important summer campaigns, have always started with great ambitions, but in the end they have always disappointed expectations. They finished last season in 7th place and were eliminated by Vitesse in the first round of the playoffs for access to the Conference League's preliminary rounds. Even worse went in KNVB Beker where they were knocked out in the second round by second tiers NAC Breda. During the summer transfer market Utrecht were very active in both sales and purchases. The biggest changes have come in the midfield sector, where leading and important players such as Quinten Timber, Adam Maher, Simon Gustafson and Joris van Overeem left. At first glance their replacements Rocco Robert Shein, Luuk Brouwers and Taylor Booth, seem unable to fill the void. In attack the team appears strengthened with the arrival of experienced giant Bas Dost and Daishawn Redan coming from a decent season in Zwolle. The void left by the retirement of captain Willem Janssen seems to have been well filled with the arrival of Modibo Sagnan, while between the posts there was the alternation between Eric Oelschlägel and Vasilis Barkas from Celtic Glasgow. The main novelty, however, is probably on the bench where will sit former Sparta Rotterdam Henk Fraser. Known for his wait-and-see tactics, Fraser will likely field the team with a 4-3-1-2 system of play. Not many indications have arrived in the pre-season since they played 4 friendlies, losing two and winning as many.