Football Season Guide

Union Saint-Gilloise

In


Adem Zorgane (mid) Charleroi; Jean Amani Lazare (mid) Standard Liege – end of loan; Raul Florucz (att) Olimpja Ljubliana;

Out


Anthony Moris (r) (gk) Al Khaleej; Koki Machida (r) (def) Hoffenheim; Noah Sadiki (r) (mid) Sunderland; Casper Terho (sp) (att) OH Leuven; Dennis Eckert Ayensa (sp) (att) Standard Liege – loan made permanent;

A year after dramatically missing on the title Union claimed the trophy last term. Amazing defending and a 24-game long unbeaten run made the small team from Brussels champions for the first time in their history. Union were only third and full 13 points behind Genk at the end of the regular season. Yet they had by far the best defence and this propelled them to a historic play-off run – 9 wins, 1 draw, 0 defeats and 22:3 goal difference. Goalkeeper Moris kept 20 clean sheets in 37 starts last season. Young strikers David and Ivanovic both began the season as subs but from the midway point on they became regulars. Between them ended up scoring 32 league goals in the end. As expected the great success of the small club attracted interest. Goalkeeper Moris and one of the main defenders Machida are no longer in the team. The main holding midfielder Sadiki was also sold for a huge profit. This leaves real worries and question marks regarding the defensive efficiency going forward. At the moment of writing the most senior goalie in the squad is 22-year-old Vic Chambaere, who has close to zero top flight experience. Union have a lot of cash from these sales and they are expected to make moves soon. Already, addressed the departure of Sadiki by signing Zorgane. He had a solid last season for Charleroi and has very similar skill set so he should fit in the role easy. Union seem to be happy to play the patient game but at least 2-3 more big signings before the summer window is over are to be expected. Keeping their best centre-back Burgess under contract is a huge thing. When he played 80 minutes or more last season Union conceded just 0.6 goals per game. David and Ivanovic should be even more productive in attack this season. Fuseini, Giger and Rodriguez are also promising strikers. This should give Union great depth up front and ability to rotate once the league phase of the Champions League begins.

Target


Hope to defend their title. It will be very hard. Might even struggle to make the top 2 this season.