Football Season Guide

RSC Charleroi

In


Mehdi Boukamir (def) Pafos – end of loan; Yassine Khalifi (mid) Lille B; Freddy Mbemba (mid) Versailles; Antoine Colassin (att) Beerschot; Jakob Napoleon Romsaas (att) Tromso; Oday Dabbagh (att) Aberdeen – end of loan; Anthony Descotte (att) Utrecht – end of loan; Youssuf Sylla (att) Willem II – end of loan; Mondy Prunier (att) Franc Borains – end of loan;

Out


Daan Heymans (k) (mid) Racing Genk; Adem Zorgane (r) (mid) Union Saint-Gilloise; Grejohn Kyei (sp) (att) Standard Liege – end of loan; Alexis Flips (att) Anderlecht – end of loan;

A roller-coaster last season finished well for the Zebras. Won Play-off II and stole the last visa for Europe with a 2:1 away triumph against Antwerp. Despite starting with 4 wins in the opening 7 rounds Charleroi were only 10th at the end of the regular season. Had two long winless runs and this saw them lose hope to make Play-off I. Credit to the Board they stuck with the first-year manager De Mil and this proved the right move. While others overreacted Charleroi enjoyed solid play-off run (6 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat). This was enough to see them win Play-off II and then the last place in Europe. The summer so far has been challenging. The two best players in midfield from last season – star playmaker Heymans (14 goals and 12 assists) and main anchor-man Zorgane – are no longer in the squad. So far none of the new additions are expected to be regular starters. That said, Charleroi still have their Serbian goal-machine Stulic. Last season he didn’t play a single minute in the opening 12 rounds, didn’t make his first start until round 15 in late November, yet he finished with 16 league goals. If Stulic can keep this scoring run going Charleroi have nothing to worry about. He only just burst on the scene though so the club added a few other strikers in case the Serbian cools off again. So far the entire back line is staying put and this promises to make Charleroi hard to score against.

Target


Top 6 finish will be a major achievement. Slim hopes to do it though. Will be happy with a top 10 finish.