[FM24] Part two: Die Werkself

[KlaaZ]

Hi all! 

After last year's challenges, bringing glory back to Nancy and travelling around the world trying to complete a pentagon challenge (where I checked off three out of five before I got bored eventually) and a bit of a hiatus afterwards, I'm back for another journal. 

This time, it will start off as something a bit more relaxed, hopefully, and closer to my heart. I'll be managing the team I support myself and where I've owned season tickets for at least twelve years now. I won't place any restrictions on myself, as I'm still exploring the novelties of FM24 and as this will be a bit more of a laidback game. In due time, I want to win a European trophy with this club, and then possibly move on to another league outside of the top five to do the same (Norway, Austria, Denmark and Portugal are all on my list). 

The club I'm referring to is offically named Oud-Heverlee Leuven, but anyone in Belgium will refer to it as either OHL (pronounced Oh-Hasj-El) or Leuven. the club is actually a relatively new one, created through a merger of the three biggest clubs in the Leuven region: Zwarte Duivels Oud-heverlee, Stade Leuven and Daring Leuven. The reason for this is simple: Neither of these three clubs ever managed to get to the first division in Belgium, despite being situated in a bit of blank spot geographically in the Belgian football landscape. The merger happened in 2002, meaning it's actually one of the youngest clubs in Europe to play in the highest league (after RB Leipzig and Krasnodar). 

OHL first promoted to the top league in 2010/2011, which is also when I bought my first season ticket. Since then, it's been going up and down the leagues, but spent the majority of its seasons at the top level. Right now, they've finished in a lower mid table position for three seasons after their last promotion. In real life, we're struggling against relegation, but form is finally picking up with a five game unbeaten streak, including three wins and three clean sheets. 

The club is owned by the King Power group, which makes it a sister club of Leicester City, which famously won the Premier League against all odds in 2016. King Power invested heavily in the club's infrastructure and youth setup, which is finally starting to pay dividends. It sold Mandela Keita (who is now drawing serious attention from West Ham) to Antwerp in a deal nearing 8M, a club record, and has continuously got three academy players in the starting eleven: Central defender Schingtienne, wing back Sagrado and striker Nsingi. 

Despite the real life struggles, there is a general sentiment that the squad is better than the table shows and that the previous manager mismanaged it. This is in my opinion reflected in the game, where it looks like a mid table position should definitely be on the cards. Nevertheless, the media prediction of 15th is not favourable so I may be slightly biased in my opinion.

OHL plays it home games at the King Power at Den Dreef stadium, or Den Dreef in short. The stadium was refurbished in 2011 with two new stands and houses around 10k fans on a good day. It has probably one of the best pitches in Belgium and quite decent facilities, both for the first team and the youngsters.

I've already gone through preseason and the first two games, but I'll try to do a squad introduction and talk a bit about my tactical approach in the next update, which will probably land tomorrow as I'm taking the misses to a Michael McIntyre show tonight.

[KlaaZ]

On a sidenote, I hope this will be playable because I believe there was an issue with the financial side of Belgian teams in the game. Currently projected to lose over 12M..

[KlaaZ]

The squad

The OHL players are, in my humble opinion, better than their real life performances let on. In goal, Maxime Prévot was picked up on a free from Sochaux to replace a disappointing Cojocaru. Furthermore, Leuven managed to reel in Tobe Leysen, a 21-year old goalkeeper from Racing Genk who is set to have a bright future at Den Dreef. This is him singlehandedly winning us a point away at STVV when we were down to ten men, and keeping a clean sheet in our last 0-3 away win at Westerlo.

 

 

At the back, Ricca is the standout defender. In real life, he was out for months with a torn hamstring and sorely missed, but this isn't reflected in the game yet. Next to him, 22-year old Ewoud Pletinckx is another certainty. Apart from them, the club also signed Florian Miguel and Raz Shlomo to provide some depth, and we've seen the emergence of young Joël Schingtienne as well. As I will try to play three at the back, we'll be looking for one more defender with good ball playing skills.

In midfield, there's plenty of attacking options but we lack a bit of defensive depth. With players like Maziz and Maertens, Leuven has great creating and scoring quality from the center of the pitch, but Misao is the only real holding midfielder in the squad. With Holzhauser, Schrijvers and young Dutch youth international Ezechiel Banzuzi, there's a wealth of options to choose from. 

We have a few very solid options on the wing backs as well. Mendyl on the left is a clear starter in the game. In real life, he's been a blessing and a curse, providing great attacking impulses but being a defensive liability and someone who easily picks up both yellows and reds, not to mention conceding the occasional penalty. He's on his way to Turkey now apparently, but the deal is not done yet. Covering for him will be Miguel, who is a bit less of an attacking threat but more stable without the ball, and Kiyine, who can pretty much play any position on the pitch. On the right, young Sagrado will be first pick with Thibault Vlietinck covering for him. 

We'll not use wingers this season, but we do have a few quality players there who will be retrained to other positions. Jon Thorsteinsson is a very cool headed Icelander who adds a bit of flair to this team. His counterpart on the other end is Konan N'Dri, a fast but small dribbler who can also play up front.

Which brings us to the striker position, where we are probably most lacking. Our only real option is Jonatan Braut Brunes, famous not for his goalscoring records but because he's the nephew of Haaland. I'm hoping I can get more out of him than my real life counterparts as he's currently stuck on only three goals scored.

[KlaaZ]

The tactic

I've always been suckered into playing 4231 or 433 DM, but this time, I thought I'd finally try to get a three at the back going. This is how we'll be setting up. The only thing I'm considering is moving the AP to the right so create some more space for Maertens.

 

[KlaaZ]

The transfers

Not much to say here. We have a about 2.8M in the transfer budget and we spend most of it on a promising central defender from Germany, Jamil Siebert, who joins us from Viktoria Köln for 1.9M. He'll go straight into the starting eleven, playing on the right in the three man defense.

[KlaaZ]

Preseason

Not the toughest of competition, but a good preseason nontheless. Not really happy with the last result but undefeated is good and builds morale.

[KlaaZ]

A flying start of the season

We flew through August and September on a high, kicking off the Jupiler Pro League in style by running our bus over a helpless Charleroi. Siebert scored on his debut and we actually got five different people on the scoresheet, which shows that we threaten in a lot of different ways. We continued this form all through August, faultless even away at Union and at home versus Antwerp, and even looked like continuing on this track until we stumbled in Mechelen. We actually had our first off day away at the Kakkers but fought back for a point with an added time equalizer from Banzuzi.

 

This leaves us in a surprising first place, two points clear of Genk. We're only two points off the total points we have in real life right now, actually, which makes it even more impressive.

[KlaaZ]

We're entering 2024 on a high! One loss, away at second place Genk in a game we dominated almost entirely, and a few draws. Apart from that, it's only wins for the Leuven boys. Cercle gave us a cup scare, taking us to penalties before finally admitting defeat. We get an away game at second division Lommel in the quarter final.

Despite the loss against Genk we're still firmly seven points ahead. That doesn't mean much though, as Belgium has a wonky playoff system where the top six in the regular competition see their points halved and play each other again in the Championship Group. 

More good news from the youth intake preview. We don't really need wingers but defensive midfield and the striker position are two places where we definitely could do with some extra quality. Our current HOYD is not bad but also not great and has a balanced personality, so I'll be looking to replace him once he get closer to the end of his contract in the summer of 2025.

Speaking of youngsters, because of the lacking squad depth and some injuries, we promoted Mathéo Parmentier to the first team, seeing him feature in 18 games this season, six of those being starts.

Finally, Leysen was voted best goalkeeper and we took the entire podium for young player of the year. Brunes ended runner up for the Golden Boot.

[KlaaZ]

January transfer window

Seeing as we're doing well, I wasn't bound on changing much, just tidying up the finances and such. That said, five players left the club, four of them because of playing time and one who was going to run out his contract. Goalkeeper Prévot moves to Spain for 1M, which is a nice plus to minimize the losses a bit. Holzhauser also leaves to Austria for 125k. Neither would be a problem, Leysen was our starter anyway and Siebe Schrijvers or Banzuzi can easily replace the tall Austrian. 

Three incoming transfers: One player who was out on loan and will go straight into the starting eleven, some depth in defensive midfield and a new backup goalkeeper. The loan returnee is Santiago Ramos Mingo, former Boca and FC Barcelona defender. He'll get a spot on the left in the three man defense. We also pick up Marco Ilaimaharitra from Charleroi for 110k and loan Jakub Stolarczyk from Leicester.

 

Spoiler

 

 

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[KlaaZ]

We end the regular competition in first place with 74 points, giving us a seven point head start in the Championship Group. We struggled a bit near the end, giving away a lead at Club Brugge and failing to score at home against surprise package KV Mechelen, missing a penalty in the process. Kortrijk is also in the top six, and is the only team that somehow completely outplayed us in a 5-3 goal bonanza.

We're also into the cup final after a surprisingly nervous affair against Lommel and Oostende, both second division teams.

[KlaaZ]

The youth intake proves lucky with one amazing defensive midfielder coming through. Julien Pla will join the first team straight away, looking like an absolute future midfield boss.

[Muttley84]

Title in the first season incoming. Now thats some serious overachivement for a club that was 15 in the table irl couple of weeks. Wonder how much money you will have in the summer to streghten for CL, and if you will encounter the belgian finances bug.

[KlaaZ]

7 minutes ago, Muttley84 said:

Title in the first season incoming. Now thats some serious overachivement for a club that was 15 in the table irl couple of weeks. Wonder how much money you will have in the summer to streghten for CL, and if you will encounter the belgian finances bug.

Thanks! I don't think we're out of the woods yet, but it's looking good. Our main issue is lack of depth, we tend to drop points once we have to sub a few players of the starting eleven. Considering the Championship Group has a game like every three days and that we face KV Mechelen and KVK Kortrijk, both of which we struggled against, I wouldn't call it just yet.   But I'd rather be seven points ahead than seven behind, that's for sure.

I'm also not sure if the title guarantees a CL group stage ticket, that's also a potential 20M difference.

 

[KlaaZ]

This is exactly what I was afraid of. Three games in and we only found the back of the net once. The game against Kortrijk was an absolute dud with neither side creating anything. We justed edged KV Mechelen and were the better team against Antwerp but couldn't find the back of the net and ran into a last minute penalty. Them and Genk are trailing us by five points now, and we have Genk away next..

[KlaaZ]

Victory in Genk, but at a cost. We lose Maziz for seven to eight weeks with sprained knee ligaments, meaning he will not participate in the remainder of the campaign.

[KlaaZ]

It's done, in style! With four games to play and nine points ahead, we had to beat Kortrijk and hope for Antwerp to falter a day later at home against Standard. The game couldn't start off worse for us though, when we gave away a penalty, converted by Ambrose. Siebe pulled us level just before the break but in the second half some defensive clowning allowed Ambrose to score his second of the game (wrongly labeled as an owngoal, no idea why). Substitute Ndri scored the equalizer in the 77th but it looked like a draw was all we were going to get. Not ideal, especially since we play Antwerp away next. But in the 95th, Kiyine sent Schrijvers into space. He squared the ball to Brunes who slotted it first time into the far corner to grab us the win!

One day later, Antwerp failed to break down Standard and got stuck in a scoreless draw, making the gap eleven points with three games to play and crowning us champions of Belgium!

[KlaaZ]

We also won the Cup, deservedly beating Genk in the final! A double in the first season, not bad. Will do an end of season tonight.

[KlaaZ]

End of season overview

Final league standing

Top of the league, most goals scored, least conceded. Only Standard had more xG than us but they played an additional playoff game against Anderlecht where they racked up an additional 3. That said, they were our toughest opponents in my opinion. We played the 3-4-2-1 most of the season but changed to a 4-3-3 DM near the end as we were stalling going forward. 

 

Player performances

An outstanding first season from Haaland's nephew Brunes, who netted 23 goals in the league. Maziz also did quite well with eleven goals and nine assists, and Mendyl on the left wing back got eight and eight. At the back, Tobe Leysen kept an amazing 23 clean sheets.

 

Squad changes

Next season, I'd like to move firmly to the 4-3-3, which will mean investing in wingers. Mendyl wants to move to a bigger club, we've put a 9.75M price tag on his head. Central defender Shlomo was surplus to requirements after Siebert arrived and will move to the Championship in a 1.4M deal. There's also a lot of interest for Ramos, mostly from the Championship and the Bundesliga 2. If possible, I'd also like to offload Ricca as he's on a ridiculous 25k per week.

[KlaaZ]

Defensive masterclass. Would have included Ramos but he was on loan until January.

[KlaaZ]

Some more statistics.

[KlaaZ]

The transfer window is going to be an interesting one. With a wage budget of only 211k, there are two players who are a huge burden to the budget. Ricca is on a whopping 25k, which is more than 10% of the entire budget, and Mendyl is also more expensive than he should be. I also have my doubts about Schrijvers but until we can find someone of equal quality. The same  goes for Brunes, who can leave for the right amount of money.

Our first order of business will be moving some of these people on. Shlomo moves to Cardiff for 1.4M. Mandela Keita was on loan at Antwerp with a permanent transfer arranged afterwards, so he's out the door as well (unfortunately as he's one hell of a midfielder). We found a taker for Federico Ricca, he's currently awaiting a decision on his work permit for a move to England where he'd join Derby for 1.5M. Not the most of money, but it would free up a lot of wages. Cojocaru is also on the move with three clubs making an offer, and we've accepted a 7.25M bid for Mendyl. There's also interest for Ramos (Leicester, Bochum) and Pletinckx (Leicester), but I'll only sell when an insane offer comes in. both defenders are still under contract until 2026, so I feel we're in a strong negotiating position. If an insane bid would come in, I've already got a few replacements on my shortlist.

All of this combined would net us a solid 10M. We've used a part of this to improve our junior coaching and invest in the training facilities. The rest will go towards strengthening the squad. Speaking of which..

Our first order of business was finding a good striker to provide competition for Brunes, or replace him. I had a Spaniard on my shortlist but he wasn't interested in joining us in January yet. Winning the league and the cup changed his mind and as he was end of contract, he's a freebie too. Mallorca also put in an offer but he made a wise decision in the end. Enter Miguel De la Fuente, or Miguel, 24 years old, from Alaves. An all rounder with no real weaknesses, he feels like a great addition. Most of the wage budget we freed up on Ricca will go towards bringing him in, but I feel it's worth it as he's rated as a leading Jupiler Pro League striker. He's also consistent and likes big matches, two big pluses. He wanted a 10.5M release clause, which I felt was on the low side but considering he's coming over for free, he'll hopefully net us a hefty profit in the future.

 

In our search for more quality on the wings, we came across Ronaldo Deaconu, a 26-year old Romanian playing in Poland. Just like Miguel, he had been on our radar for a while but we couldn't convince him in January. He joins us now though for 250k. The fact that he can play anywhere in midfield or on the flanks is a huge advantage. 

 

To replace Mendyl, we went shopping in Germany where we loan an excellent looking Aaron Zhenter from Augsburg. Good footballer, decent tackle, quite fast and a lot of room to grow. He comes over on loan with an optional future fee of 5.75M. Hopefully, 2024-2025 will net us enough profit to make this a permanent deal if he makes good progress.

 

Finally, we brought in a new right back. Sagrado did really well last year but hasn't really progressed much and I think Vlietinck is sub standard for our new standing. Valgeir Fridriksson joins us from Malmö FF as we activated his 1.5M release clause. 22 already but great all round stats both going forward and defensively. He's also an Icelandic international. 

 

If an opportunity presents itself, we'd still be in the market for another striker (and then selling Brunes), maybe a winger and very maybe a central midfielder. But all in all, I think our homework is done and done well. And in time too, contrary to real life Leuven who have struggled for years to have their transfers done in a timely fashion before the start of the league.

[KlaaZ]

Ehm, what?

[KlaaZ]

Not the best of preseasons, although we did lift the Super Cup after a penalty shootout victory over Genk. Both Deaconu and Miguel looked good on their debut with an assist and a goal respectively. The 5-1 beating we got from Gent, who were relegated last season, was really hard to take. We were actually the better team for most of the game and started off really well but then conceded twice in a minute on a corner and after losing the ball at the back, and another seven minutes later.

[KlaaZ]

Some more transfer news after Ricca and Mendyl's deals are finalized and there is money in the cash register. We bring in 20-year old midfielder Mads Enggard from Randers FC in a deal totalling 4.4M including installments. I'm very excited about this kid, with excellent mentals and room to grow. We'll work on his strength to turn him into an absolute midfield monster. 

[KlaaZ]

Job offers pouring in but I have no intention of going yet.

[KlaaZ]

One more player out, and one more player in. We sold Ezechiel Banzuzi to Gent as he needed to play and we currently have way better options in midfield. If he succeeds there, we have 50% on any profits so fingers crossed. On the incoming end, we bring in Ben Nelson on loan from Leicester because Siebert ran into a lower back stress fracture which will keep him away from football for about two months.

We also kicked off quite well in the league, only dropping points away at overperforming Cercle Brugge. We didn't deserve to win in STVV but two clear penalties saved the day. Apart from that, I can have no complaints with solid victories over Anderlecht and Antwerp. Miguel has hit the ground running, scoring four in six appearances. Maziz is also doing way better from the left with another four roses. And I'm really happy with Deaconu's contributions on the right, being PotM three times so far.

Next to the pitch, the board have agreed to expand the stadium to 13k seats, which is the maximum. I was hoping to build a new one in a few years, but because of the 2024 built bug, I'm worried that it might not happen. Anyway, the recent results leave us in first place although Genk, who we play next, have a game in hand and could therefore still top us.

In Europe, we go straight to the league phase of the Champions League. The draw has not been kind to us, but I'm hoping to at least grab something against Qarabag and maybe cause an upset when playing Salzburg or Nice.

Finally, we also signed a new HOYD. I can't complain about the last one because we got Julien Pla, but as we're playing a 433 now I wanted someone who had it as a preferred formation. He'll be replaced by Claudio Vivas, who has been employed in the past in various roles all throughout South America. He's a model citizen too, a nice bonus!

[KlaaZ]

That went better than expected, especially since I played the bench. To be fair, the game was quite even until Ndri scored the third, afterwards Qarabag completely collapsed.

[KlaaZ]

Pla also broke the record of youngster CL player.

[KlaaZ]

It's january first, and despite the additional load of European games, we're doing just fine. We're leading the league again and survived the hectic December schedule quite well. Our only loss was away at relegation threatened Eupen in a complete offday. Apart from that we drew in Union, Antwerp and Cercle, which can happen. That said, we're nine points ahead of second placed Genk, so all is well. 

Our new signings have done fairly well. Full backs Fridriksson and Zehnter have established themselves well, the latter making us forget Mendyl quickly. Up front, Miguel has scored twelve goals in nineteen appearances in the league, and four in the Champions League. But the most impressive arrival is Ronaldo Deaconu, who scored twelve goals and assisted eight in the league, and has two and two in Europe. 

Speaking of the Champions League, we kicked off great with an 0-8 trashing of Qarabag. A heavy but logical 1-3 loss at home against the Parisian giant was always on the cards, but we bounced back with a 0-1 holdup in Naples and a very clean 3-1 victory over their neighbours from Rome. We then got our butts kicked by Bayern but a 2-0 win over Salzburg keeps us contending for making to the knockouts. With Athletic at home and Nice away, we still have everything to play for!

In other news, our upgraded training facilities are ready and the board approved for some more improvements. I still don't have the option to improve our youth facilities though, so we'll have to be patient. The good news is that King Power also agreed to increase junior coaching spending and youth recruitment. 

Which brings us to the youth intake, which promises a few midfielders and a winger of quality, and talks about another golden generation. To improve our chances going forward, we also hired a new U18 manager, Kolo Touré. The Ivorian former defender has an excellent personality and prefers the 433 DM, which we play.

[KlaaZ]

Some early transfer news! Our scouts came across a 16-year old striker, currently playing for SK Beveren in the second division. He's already a starter there, scoring five goals in 14 appearances. As he doesn't feel like joining us permanently yet, we set up a loan deal with an optional 500k future fee which, as far as I'm concerned, we'll definitely use if he changes his mind. He already made his debut on January 1st in the Cup against Sint-Truiden, coming off the bench twenty minutes before the final whistle and scoring too. I have high hopes for this lad.

[KlaaZ]

What a lad!

[KlaaZ]

The transfer window is shut, and we mostly just removed some dead wood. Vlietinck (Vallecano, 2.5M), Toku (Excelsior, 450k) and Misao (Kawasaki-F, 1.5M) all wanted to go. The same goes for Kiyine, but Ilaimaharitra will miss the remainder of the season with a torn cafle muscle and we failed to signed a replacement. We had a deal with N'Guessan from Metz but the French pulled the plug when they couldn't sign a replacement. We also tried for Morlaye Sylla from Arouca but stumbled over his wage demands.

[TheMartello]

On 08/02/2024 at 19:48, KlaaZ said:

End of season overview

Final league standing

Top of the league, most goals scored, least conceded. Only Standard had more xG than us but they played an additional playoff game against Anderlecht where they racked up an additional 3. That said, they were our toughest opponents in my opinion. We played the 3-4-2-1 most of the season but changed to a 4-3-3 DM near the end as we were stalling going forward. 

 

Player performances

An outstanding first season from Haaland's nephew Brunes, who netted 23 goals in the league. Maziz also did quite well with eleven goals and nine assists, and Mendyl on the left wing back got eight and eight. At the back, Tobe Leysen kept an amazing 23 clean sheets.

 

Squad changes

Next season, I'd like to move firmly to the 4-3-3, which will mean investing in wingers. Mendyl wants to move to a bigger club, we've put a 9.75M price tag on his head. Central defender Shlomo was surplus to requirements after Siebert arrived and will move to the Championship in a 1.4M deal. There's also a lot of interest for Ramos, mostly from the Championship and the Bundesliga 2. If possible, I'd also like to offload Ricca as he's on a ridiculous 25k per week.

You are having a great story here!

 

Can you share your full tactic(s)? With Team Instructions and Player instructions?

Would be greatly appreciated!

[KlaaZ]

2 hours ago, TheMartello said:

You are having a great story here!

 

Can you share your full tactic(s)? With Team Instructions and Player instructions?

Would be greatly appreciated!

Will try to get into that once the season is done.

[KlaaZ]

So the regular competition is done, and we're also out of Europe but into the Cup final. We had a very good January and February, unbeaten in the league and only dropping points in the final CL game against Nice (albeit vs. ten men so we probably should have won that as wel). More importantly, we beat Athletic 1-0 at Den Dreef to cement a play in the round of 16, on goal difference with Marseille, Liverpool and Inter. In that round of sixteen we lost 4-1 on aggregate against Milan.

At first glance, everything is going well in the league but near the end of the regular season in March, we started faltering and giving away a lot of very good chances and goals. We lost 3-1 in Liège against a team that was reduced to ten after 35 minutes, then threw away a 2-0 lead against Lommel and actually escaped a loss when they missed a penalty, and we barely scraped a win in Kortrijk in our last game before the Champions Group. We'll have to do a lot better in those final ten games if we want to retain our title..

A lot of this is down to my strikers. Miguel was praised for scoring twelve goals in 2024, but he has yet to find the back of the net in 2025.. Deaconu has only scored once in the past three months, and young Rotini has scored two. 

[KlaaZ]

Another midfielder that could go far I think. Somers looks more like a central defender than a winger, and Callewaert will probably be retrained as a striker, although an inside forward is also on the cards.

[KlaaZ]

Symptomatic..

[KlaaZ]

It's a miracle, Miguel just scored his first goal in seventeen (!!!!) games.

[KlaaZ]

It's a beautiful day for both the first team as the U23 as we seal the title with four games to play, beating Standard 1-2 at Sclessin while the youngsters celebrate promotion to the second division. They are four points clear with two games to go so if they don't choke, they may also celebrate a league win!

[KlaaZ]

And there it is, good on them.

[KlaaZ]

Season recap

Well, it's a second season to remember. We defended our first title win gloriously, scoring a whopping 81 goals but conceding three more than last year. We finished with the same amount of points as in our first season thanks to a bit of decompression after sealing the league title, losing at home against Genk and away in Brugge, while giving away a draw at STVV. That said, we can be very happy with our national dominance.

On top of that, we also won the cup again, beating Club Brugge in the final 1-0 thanks to a goal from Deaconu. 

In the Champions League, we reached the round of 16 where we got rightfully kicked out by AC Milan. I think it will be a while before we can really contend in Europe, especially since the new format doesn't allow us to fall into the Europa League anymore after the group stage of the CL.

In regards to transfers, I'm satisfied with the performances. Miguel started off really well but dropped back significantly in 2025, making me wonder if we should bring in a new striker. I'd really like to make young Rotini's stay permanent but he still has no intention of joining us.

In midfield, Enggard was really solid in his first season, and I think there's more to come from him. Julien Pla, still only sixteen, established himself as a first team regular this season, and we'll be looking to give him a new long term deal in the hopes of either substantially increasing his release clause (currently 20M) or getting rid of it all together. 

At the back, the most important question will be whether or not we bring in young Zehnter on a permanent deal. We have an option clause of 5.8M which would be a club record, so that would be a lot of money. Then again, we can afford it.

Finally, in goal, Leysen has done well over the past two years, making significant progress. That said, he's probably going to need replacing at some point as attribute wise, he's not looking that good. Nontheless, his performances have been quite sublime.

We also unlocked the chance to ask for improvements in the youth facilities but unfortunately, the board won't give in on that topic. The good news is that we've (again) started upgrading the training grounds and we'll increase the stadium capacity with almost 3k seats.

[KlaaZ]

We just played the Super Cup (more on that in another update) so it's time for some transfer news. Not a lot of news on the outgoing side, yet, although Brunes will hopefully leave the club with several teams offering 1.9M for the redundant striker. In hindsight, I should have cashed in on him after our first season when he was the league top goalscorer but alas. A bigger loss will be Ewoud Pletinckx, who's release clause of 21.5M was activated by Villareal. I tried negotiating an extended deal with him but he wanted 41k p/w, which is something I don't want to commit to. He's not gone yet, but I'm assuming he'll accept the offer from the Yellow Submarine.

On the incoming side, we paid Zehnter's optional fee of 5.75M to bring him permanently to Leuven. We also brought in last year's missed target, Morlaye Sylla, for 6M to have some more ball playing capabilities in central midfield. The 26-year old Guinean signs a five year deal at Den Dreef. Up front, Rotini changed his mind and joins us from Beveren for 500k.

We also bring in some competition for Leysen, with Florian Kastenmeier joining us for 1.5M. 

Finally, we'll be in the market for at least one and preferrably two central defenders. Our first option is looking unlikely: A 17-year old from Cercle Brugge is high on our list but he doesn't want to join yet, so we'll have to look elsewhere for now.

[KlaaZ]

Pletinckx is officially gone, leaving us only two central defenders (four if you count Pla but he's our main midfield man, or Miguel, but he's our rotation option at left back). With that in mind, we bring in Kenneth Schmidt after our first three options all go down the drain. I'm still happy with his profile though, very all round, good technical skills and a left footer. 

We also bring in a young Belgian talent, Aboubacar Conté, from Anderlecht in a deal worth 9M. I'm hoping he can live up to expectations!

Finally, Miguel De la Fuente leaves the club after a season with ups and downs and joins PSV in a 10M + % on future sale deal. This also means we'll be looking for a new striker, as we now only have Rotini up front.

On the pitch, the results are going okay as we started with three wins and a draw. These results are masking some very questionable performances, however, We beat Lommel 3-2 at home, but they actually had the best chances and should have won. The same goes for our 0-2 victory in Gent, and we narrowly beat Charleroi at home thanks to an extra time goal by 16-year old Callewaert, who joined the first team squad after we have a bit of an injury crisis on the flanks. Kiyine, Schrijvers, Ndri, Deaconu and Thorsteinsson all ran into injuries keeping them away from the game for weeks, in Kiyine's case even months.

[KlaaZ]

We have another bingo! We found a midfielder at Sampdoria, Kristoffer Askildsen, who was affordable at only 2.3M, didn't ask for ridiculous wages and has all the required skills to become an excellent central defender. We'll retrain him to play at the back and will probably rotate him into the midfield as well if necessary. Very happy with this one!

[KlaaZ]

Some more transfer wheeling and dealing before the window closed. First off, we found our leading striker in Mexico. My scouts came across a 21-year old forward playing for Tijuana who not only looked very all round, but had a lot of room for future development. Even so, he seems good enough to lead the line right off the bat, which will also take some pressure off young Rotini. He wasn't cheap at 7.5M but with a release clause over 34M, I'm hoping he'll pay us back a few years down the line.

We also picked up another central defender, Jean Hugonet, from Magdeburg in a deal that can run up to 4.3M. Powerful, good on the ball and a nice personality to boot! This also means that we can offload one more defender, so it's Ramos who is shipped off to England where he'll join Wolves. Only in January though, as his work permit was granted just outside of the time window. Still, it's easy money at 14.5M.

Finally, the draw in the CL has not been kind to us, here's to hoping that we can defy the odds again..

[KlaaZ]

We're closing in on the end of the season, after which I'll do a big update or two, but the best news is that we managed to give Pla an improved deal. More importantly, I managed to talk his agent out of the locked release clause of 23.5M, which means that if we lose him, it's not going to be for peanuts.

[KlaaZ]

Season recap

Jupiler Pro League

Champions in style, in an unbeaten season. Struggled a tiny bit at the start of the year. Four goals less scored but nine less  conceded, only nineteen in 40 games. Finally perfected my 433 in the second half of the season, I think.

Croky Cup

Victory here as well, although it was an edgy affair for us. We played STVV off the pitch in the semis but just couldn't hit the back of the net. Luckily, we kept our cool in the penalty shootout. The 3-0 win in the final over Anderlecht was sweet and flawless.

Champions League

We had a very tough draw this year and went out in the league phase on goal difference, but it could have been very different. We went 1-0 up in Frankfurt after 93 minutes but still managed to concede an equalizer and repeated that feat in Bergamo. Those four points would have sent us to the first knockout round.

[KlaaZ]

Youth intake

Two standout players this year, striker Logan Lafaye and Rune Garcia. I especially like the look of Lafaye, with 20 determination and a perfectionist personality.

[KlaaZ]

Squad progress: Defense

The squad has improved a lot over the last three years, with some excellent deals being done to bring in more quality in every line.

In goal, Tobe Leysen has slowly been replaced by Florian Kastenmeier. Tobe has been unhappy with his playing time this year, so we agreed a deal with Al Fayha for 11.5M at the end of the season. This also means we'll be in the market for a (backup) goalkeeper, ideally a young one with potential to be groomed behind our German rock.

Hugonet won the battle for a first team stake with Siebert, which caused the latter to be unhappy. The German is now on the verge of joining Southampton in a deal totalling 31.5M, a club record. Having joined us for 1.9M, that's a big profit. We will have to pass 30% of it to Düsseldorf though, and 10% to the player.

Next to Hugonet, Kenneth Schmidt has been impressive in his first season. An excellent ball playing defender who can also play at left back if needed. He's drawn interest from Al-Ahli but I have no intention of letting him go yet. As Ramos also left, we will be in the market for at least one, preferrably two central defenders to bolster the team.

On the left, Zehnter established himself as our prime player. Miguel also made some minutes but his contract ran out and he was not deemed good enough so we let him leave on a free. We'll grab a backup for our young German somewhere during the summer.

Right back is probably the position where I could do with some extra quality. Both Fridriksson and his backup Sagrado are okay, but neither of them are of the same quality as Zehnter on the left.

[KlaaZ]

Squad progress: Midfield

Midfield is probably our strongest position in depth. 

At halfback, Julien Pla emerged from the youth ranks to claims is place as number one at the mere age of seventeen. He's an absolute boss at this age with no real weaknesses and a lot of room for improvement left. I rotate him with Kristoffer Askildsen when he's tired.

In front of him, we play a CM(S) who is allowed to move into channels and a RPM. Both positions are occupied by the same players, although I try to play defensively stronger guys in the CM(S) position. Mads Enggard was our prime guy for the role, but Ipswich activated his release clause at the end of the season. I tried negotiating a new contract but he wanted something in the 55k p/w region, which is not possible for us. Him leaving will provide more opportunities for both Aboubacar Conté and the most recent prospect of our youth academy, Cardo Mavinga, who made his debut near the end of this season.

For the RPM position, we brought in Morlaye Sylla last year who's done well. We may be in the market for an extra midfielder as 31-year old veteran Maertens isn't really cut out to replace him anymore.