TRANSFERS January promises to be a decisive month in Anderlecht. Since his arrival almost a year and a half ago, Olivier Renard has never had to manage such a strategic transfer window. Between the need to reduce the number of players, sensitive contract issues, and the obligation to strengthen a weakened team, the sporting director faces a colossal task.
Anderlecht is financially stable again, but cannot throw money around. The wage bill must remain under control and the core must be slimmed down. This should have been done in the summer, but a number of surplus players did not leave. Meanwhile, the European campaign ended earlier than planned, which means that the core is too big anyway. A solution has already been found for Cedric Hatenboer with a loan deal. The purchase option is striking, indicating that Anderlecht no longer has complete faith in the Dutchman. Rits, Flips, Foket, and Ashimeru have been training separately since the summer and need to leave.
Continue reading below the article
Continue reading Verschaeren must also be sold. The player refused a new (lower) contract and will be a free agent within six months. Stroeykens no longer needs to leave as he has re-signed, but he could still depart if a good offer comes in. Luis Vazquez is also allowed to leave the club, but Anderlecht wants to recoup some of the 4.5 million it paid for the striker. That will not be an easy task, but his departure is considered necessary in order to attract a new striker. He will probably be loaned out so as not to block Goto (next season) and Cvetkovic.
It remains to be seen whether the loans of Yasin Özcan and Mihajlo Ilic can be terminated, as they are not getting any playing time anyway. This could possibly free up space to finally sign an additional central defender. Given that the entire defense is prone to injury, this is actually a necessity.
In any case, the rumor mill will be in full swing in the coming weeks, but clubs rarely communicate about transfers before they are completely finalized. Be wary of clickbait on all kinds of websites. When an “imminent transfer” sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We do not expect any spectacular acquisitions this transfer window, but at most one or two targeted acquisitions with growth potential, fully in line with the policy set out by the club this summer.
