KAA Gent

It was a difficult last season for the Buffalos. They lost their prolific striker Dean to a season-ending injury in January. Extremely important goalie Roef also went down early in the season. The lack of goals saw them barely making the top 6 at the end of the regular season. Sacked the manager at this point and the club legend Milicevic was trusted to lead the team into the play-offs as they still had clear hope to qualify for Europe. However, 9 defeats in 10 play-off games and 32 goals conceded in these 10 matches saw Gent finish Play-off I dead last. Milicevic was released at the end of the season. The ex-Standard coach Ivan Leko is now in charge. He overachieved in Liege with limited roster in consecutive years, so Gent hope to see similar things from him. Leko likes to use 3-man defence, his favourite shape is 3-5-2. Right now he still seems to be evaluating his squad as the only new signing is striker Kanga. He is not expected to play much with Dean now fit and Vanzeir certain to continue as the main option up front. The main wing-backs Fadiga and Brown are the most notable departures. This should see Samoise and Araujo becoming important figures in the roles. Both of them showed promise when trusted last weekend, so developing them further is part of Leko’s plan. Solid goalie Davie Roef missed the spring due to an injury. When fit he kept 11 clean sheets in 27 league starts, so his return to full fitness is important. When Roef played Gent were on pace for a top 4 finish.