Football Season Guide

Rapid Vienna

In


Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo (def) (FC Brügge), Philipp Prosenik (att) (WAC - return from loan), Paul Gartler (gk) (KSV - return from loan)

Out


Arnor Ingvi Traustason (sp) (mid) (AEK Athen - loan), Paul Gartler (gk)(Kapfenberg - loan), Albin Gashi (mid) (FAC - loan), Jan Novota (sp) (gk) (Debrecen), Dejan Ljubicic (mid) (Wr. Neustadt), Maximilian Entrup (att) (St. Pölten - loan), Tomi Correa (att) (released)

Rapid were, without any doubt, the biggest disappointment of the previous Bundesliga season as the country's most decorated club entered the campaign with optimism following the move to their new Allianz Stadium and were hoping to even end Salzburg's domestic hegemony. However, they struggled under Mike Buskens before doing even worse under Damir Canadi. They were even under the threat of relegation before Goran Djuricin, who was appointed interim coach from within the club, managed to steady the ship. The Green-Whites were hoping to secure European football via the cup but lost the final to Salzburg, meaning that they will at least manage to fully focus on the league this time around. Djuricin, who was named their permanent boss after improving the side's fortunes last season, will know that his team will have to do much much better than they did last season if he is to keep his job. When it comes to the transfer news, Rapid are among the sides that changed the least, as absolutely no players of any real note left apart from Arnor Ingvi Traustason who lost his regular place in the latter stages of the season and was therefore loaned out to AEK. The only signing made so far is the one of defender Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo who signs from Brugge. However, the Viennese are quite open in their desire to bring in more players especially in attacking areas. Even if no one else joins, it is quite clear that Rapid are, on paper, among the best four sides in the league but they have it all to prove going into the new season after struggling so badly last time around.

Target


Their minimal target will be to finish inside the top four but only a second-place finish would leave everyone at the club truly satisfied.