With a 9 out of 9 in December – and through two defeats by Beerschot, among others – Zulte Waregem managed to secure a shared leadership position at the annual tournament. In the meantime, it is already clear that a new approach has been chosen in recent weeks.
Coach Vincent Euvrard has made some tough decisions in recent months and referred a number of former strong players to the B team. The experienced Spanish defender Borja Lopez and the summer acquisition Igor Savic from Bosnia-Herzegovina already disappeared into the B squad in October.
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A number of (Belgian) youngsters made the switch from the promising team to the A-squad and made some playing minutes there in the past month. Yannick Cappelle even scored the winning goal against Seraing.
Derijck, Gano, Savic and Lopez were referred to the B team at Zulte Waregem
There were two other major victims in December: Timothy Derijck and Zinho Gano. The question is whether they will still be taken into account in 2024. In any case, Gano will go to the Africa Cup of Nations with Guinea Bissau and will compete against Ivory Coast and Nigeria, among others.
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Will he return to Belgium after the African Cup? That is a different question, because a solution may be sought for the attacker. He was able to go to Saudi Arabia a few months ago, so a winter transfer should certainly not be ruled out. There were rumors here and there that he had even had his contract terminated. Gano has already scored eight goals this season, making him the club’s top scorer in the Challenger Pro League.
Timothy Derijck, for his part, wanted to be important for Essevee at the age of 36, but after his substitution (and reaction thereto) against the Futures of Anderlecht (a 2-5 defeat) he also had to make do without selection for the first team in December .
Making decisions in 2024
His contract expires in June 2024 and can therefore in principle speak to other teams. Or is he trying to get himself into Euvrard’s spotlight again, in order to help with the operation promotion? Everything is open, the Christmas season can also provide clarity or forgiveness here and there.
In the meantime, Essevee is still on its way to that important promotion with 32 out of 48, although the gap with the teams below it is not large. So it will be a very exciting 2024, with no fewer than fourteen(!) competitions to follow.
2023-12-27 10:40:00
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