Football Season Guide

Rosenborg had a really impressive evolution last season as they seemed slow and plodding for extended periods but got progressively better in the final third and finished the season as one of the best teams in the league. They were even in the running to finish above Bodø/Glimt late in the campaign and it speaks volumes to the range of improvement that they had under Kjetil Rekdal that such notion was almost impossible to comprehend early in the campaign. Now comes the tough part for Rekdal and his men as they need to back up the good campaign from last season and make the next step by becoming a genuine title contender again. For a giant like the Black and White to remain outside the title race for four straight years now is starting to become untenable and the coach cannot hide behind low expectations and a young squad anymore. Indeed, RBK have had a pretty good window and managed to add some interesting young players from across Scandinavia in Oscar Aga, Santeri Väänänen and Ísak Thorvaldsson and they all have the raw materials and potential to become integral players and ones who have genuine impact in the first team. Jayden Nelson is also a potentially excellent signing as he is a player of real potential who was a regular in the MLS last season. The loss of Casper Tengstadt after just six months with the team, in which he completely exploded in a tandem with Ole Sæter up front, is going to hurt but bringing in such a large sum like 7 million euros from his move to Benfica will give the club a major clout in the market. The only other important loss in the off-season is Stefano Vecchia and by the end of the campaign he was not really a guaranteed starter anyway. Rekdal will hope to see Sæter maintain the sort of trajectory that turned him from an afterthought to a very effective Eliteserien striker as last season progressed and become an even more reliable goalscorer, while the likes of Carlo Holse and Tobias Børkeeiet will be expected to bring creativity and drive from midfield behind him. Therefore, the ingredients are there for RBK to make a genuine push and be around the top places this season as long as they sustain the feel-good factor from last year and avoid too many injuries to key players.