Belgian Pro League 2023/2024 season preview: Cercle Brugge | OneFootball

The green and black half of Brugge are coming into the 2023/2024 season off their best finish for a long time. Miron Muslic and his young side were highly entertaining as they showed no fear to take the game to everyone they came across. The club has, in conversations with GBENE, been keen to state that they are wanting to keep progressing. They finished sixth, missing out on a chance at European football by one spot.

Head coach: Miron Muslic (returning)

Players in: Alan Minda (Independiente), Maxime Delanghe (Lierse), Nils De Wilde (Anderlecht Futures), Jordan Semedo (Monaco)

Players out: Charles Vanhoutte (Union St Gilloise), Dino Hotic (Lech Poznan), Arne Cassaert (Lokeren-Temse), Frank Kanoute (Partizan)

Player to watch: Olivier Deman

Olivier Deman was called up to the Belgian national team side after a strong season with Cercle Brugge. The 23-year-old won his first national cap and hopefully that will give him confidence to push on this season. He showed his creative side last season with seven assists, and now with Dino Hotic finally gone they will need the assists to come from a wider range of midfielders this year. Deman is attracting interest from other sides, but Cercle are keen to hang on and only sell at the right price.

Transfer needs:

Cercle have already brought in the players for the positions that they have seen leave. One area they will probably look to strengthen is the striking department, with the likelihood that Japanese international Ayase Ueda will leave before the end of the summer.

Prediction:

Cercle Brugge are expecting to lose Ueda before the end of the transfer window. How they replace him, either from within the squad or outside, will certainly have an impact on where the side finish this season. They recovered after a slow start last season, so their will be expectations that they start stronger and then have a more complete season this time around. The top six would be another excellent season, but their expectations will be that by the final few weeks of the season they are still within touching distance of sixth place.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson