Football Season Guide

After reaching survival in the top flight of the Dutch football for the second year straight, VVV Venlo had to part ways with coach Maurice Steijn as the latter preferred to end a 5-year relationship for a sumptuous offer from the Emirates. In order to replace him, the management hired the controversial Robert Maaskant, who had previously announced his retirement from coaching. After some successful years at RBC Roosendaal, he has rarely managed to repeat himself, going from firing to firing over the last decade. Living on a tight budget, VVV had to see several players quitting over the summer due to the end of their loans from bigger clubs. First of all, Unnerstall returned to PSV after contributing to their safety with his saves. Then, their attack was literally decimated as the likes of Grot, Mlapa and Joosten all left too. Last, but not least, they also lost two protagonists of the defence as right-back Rutten signed for Crotone and the aging centre-back Promes, who ended his past season too soon due to injury, was released. The seasoned Kirschbaum, who had little chances to play last year at Bayer Leverkusen, will thus be acting in goal while the other new-comers Pachonik, Schafer and Scheimann should also find themselves relevant playing time at the back. The reins of the attack should be given to a bunch of promising youngsters who displayed some skills in the past campaign but might not be fully ready for the Eredivisie: Wright, from Schalke 04, Soriano, from Polish Korona Kielce, and Sinclair, from Watford.