Football Season Guide

It will be hard for Vitesse to improve their results of the previous campaign in the upcoming season. Their final ranking in the Eredivisie league table was 5th. This would have resulted in qualification for the Europa League play-offs in a normal season but Vitesse claimed the first prize in the history of the club by winning the KNVB Cup two weeks before the end of the Eredivisie season. The Arnhem side managed to beat AZ Alkmaar in the final to finally claim a trophy in the year that the club celebrates 125 years of existence. Having won the KNVB Cup, Vitesse immediately qualified for the group stage of the Europa League in the upcoming season so the first half of the campaign will be busy for Vitesse with six Europa League group games on Thursday nights. The biggest disadvantage of a successful season is always that players do catch the attention of other clubs which might lead to the departure of several important members of the squad. Ricky van Wolfswinkel, who scored 20 goals in the Eredivisie in the previous season and also scored both goals in the final of the KNVB Cup, was a key player during the previous campaign but he has completed a transfer to FC Basel. Marvelous Nakamba moved to Belgium to play for Club Brugge, while Lewis Baker returned to England after having played for Vitesse on loan from Chelsea for two years. The loans of Nathan (from Chelsea), Adnane Tighadouini (from Malaga) and Kevin Diks (from Fiorentina) also ended, while Kelvin Leerdam has made a transfer to the USA. Vitesse have managed to add three new players to the squad, on loan from Chelsea, who are Fankaty Dabo, Charlie Colkett and Mason Mount. Mukhtar Ali has been brought over from Chelsea while Matt Miazga will play for Vitesse on loan from Chelsea for a second straight year. Tim Matavz came over from Augsburg to replace Van Wolfswinkel as the leader of the attack while Thulani Serero and Thomas Bruns were taken over from Ajax and Heracles Almelo respectively to replace Nakamba and Baker. Vitesse started the season off with a painful penalty shoot-out loss to Feyenoord for the Dutch Super Cup where they gave a spirited effort.