Football Season Guide

Utrecht were certainly the team that paid the most for the suspension of the leagues due to COVID-19. The suspension took place when they were in 6th position and only 3 points from the 5th and with one game in hand. The 5th placed (Willem II) went directly to the Europa League preliminary round. Moreover, the team of Van den Brom reached the KNVB Beker final after surprisingly defeating Ajax 2-0 in semi-final, but unfortunately the final against Feyenoord didn't take place due to the pandemic. Last year they suffered another great rip off, when they traded Cyriel Dessers for Adrian Dalmau with Heracles Almelo thinking they had made a deal as the Spanish forward had scored 19 goals the previous season. Sadly Dalmau was injured most of the season, while the Dessers was the Eredivisie’s top scorer with 15 goals in 26 rounds. During the summer transfer market they managed to keep all their most important players, while reduced the squad by selling various substitutes. As for the signings, Utrecht reinforced the flanks with 3 wingers - experienced Eljero Elia, Mimoun Mahi from Zurich and Australian international Daniel Arzani on loan from Manchester City (where he never actually set foot on the pitch!), as well as left-back Django Warmerdam. Paradoxically, the best purchase could be the one made last year, namely Adrian Dalmau who, ifr emaining fit, could be lethal with the support of fast wingers like Elia and Kerk and skilled attacking midfielders like Gustafson, Ramselaar and Van de Streek.