Yan's the man, he looks like an incredible prospect! At sixteen years of age, he already looks like he could play some role in Europe's bigger leagues. Shame about his personality, though.
He looks an exciting prospect and holding off the interest will be difficult. Big challenge for Mats.
A remarkable player already at his young age. It will be very tough to hold off on any offers, especially if they are already hitting a million!
An unbelievable player you have there but at the same time he will be exceptionally hard to keep hold of in the near future by the looks of things!
OHL Sign Two More
OHL are delighted to announce the signings of Rafał Pietrzak and Lucas Schoofs.
Rafal Pietrzak arrives on a free transfer from Wisła Kraków. He was born on 30 January 1992 in Sosnowiec, Poland. Rafal's first club was Zagłębie Sosnowiec, where he made a total of 55 appearances before being sold to Górnik Zabrze for a fee of €80.000. After 2 years of being loaned to other Polish sides, GKS Katowice managed to sign him on a free transfer. He spent 3 years on the club, making 81 appearances before moving on to Wisła Kraków for just €25.000. Rafal failed to make an impact there, making just 15 appearances over 3 seasons, while also being loaned to Zagłębie Lubin. Pietrzak has signed a deal until 2022 and will earn €1.100 p/w. He will be wearing the number 13 for the 2019-2020 season.
"I am excited to continue my career at Belgium. I think OHL is a good team for me. I came here to help the club win trophies and be serious contenders. I hope that with my performances here, I'll revive my career and improve as a player. My long-term plan is to earn a call up to the National Team and potentially play for Poland." said Rafal.
Lucas Schoofs arrives on loan from KAA Gent. He was born on January 3, 1997 in Koersel, Belgium. He began his career in the youth teams of Lommel United and made his senior team debut for the club at the age of 17 against Sint-Truiden. He went on to appear 26 times for the club next season, also managing to score 4 goals. On 29 August 2015, Schoofs was transferred to K.A.A. Gent for an undisclosed fee. Gent allowed Schoofs first to develop a further year on loan at Lommel. Schoofs is familiar with our club, first playing for OHL in the 2016-2017 season, where he made 10 league appearances. He will be wearing the number 17 for the 2019-2020 season.
"I am familiar with the club so I think that will be beneficial for my development here. It was great to see Laurent (Henkinet) again. He's a great player who I really respect. When I first talked with coach Kool, he told me that the club was gonna be contending for 1st place this season so I am really excited to help the team reach those expectations. I'm also happy to see the supporters again, a great bunch of people from what I remember. We'll talk on the pitch." said Lucas on his first statement.
Comment Replies
Justice: Indeed a shame about his personality but I'm sure it'll improve ( I hope at least).Scott: It will be a problem. I'm almost sure he'll want to leave if an offer from Everton is received.
Seb: An amazing player, especially considering he's just 16. I really don't want to lose him, but I guess we'll get some money if it happens!
Jack: I really hope he'll stay for this season at least. He's vital to the team's campaign for promotion.
A good couple of signings who will help improve this team further. There could be a real push for promotion coming this year!
Two very modern-day signings. Rafa looks to be an excellent attacking full back, while Schoofs is a holding midfielder with a wonderful range of passing. Two good signings.
Pre-Season Report
July was a busy month for Oud-Heverlee Leuven, as the club's pre-season campaign started, playing 5 games in 19 days.
Leuven's pre-season started off against Felice Mazzu's KRC Genk. Genk lifted the Jupiler Pro League last year, finishing 1st with 70 points, 10 points off 2nd placed KAA Gent. A superior Genk opened the score with 18 year-old Belgian Ilias Takidine, who scored a rebound from close range. It certainly wasn't OHL's best match, as the team shot just 3 times in the whole game, opposed to Genk's 20 shots. The game finished 0-1 in favor of Mazzu's team. George Thomas played his first match for Leuven, failing to make an impact in the game.
Next up, Leuven faced Anderlecht at Den Dreef. OHL made an incredible start to the match, when Mercier found Kehli wide open in the penalty area, where the latter opened the score for Kool's side, just 2 minutes into the game. Kehli played an important role again 7 minutes after, when he headed the ball from a free-kick to center-back Kotysch, who doubled OHL's lead. Just before the half hour mark, George Thomas was brought down in the box by Anderlecht's Ognjen Vranjes, earning Leuven a chance to make it 3-0. Xavier Mercier stepped up to take it and scored with a shot in the left corner. The game finished 3-0. Pietrzak made his first appearance for Leuven, being one of the best players in the match.
Cesare Prandelli's Club Brugge was Leuven's next opponent, in a match that had an attendance of 7.000, the most in this pre-season. New boy George Thomas had a strong header denied by the post in just the 5th minute, after a cross from right-back Olivier Myny. The 20 year-old Welsh redeemed himself though, when in the 9th minute he curved the ball in the top right corner just from outside the box. Brugge equalized just before half-time though, with Rits slotting a shot past 2nd choice keeper Amenga. George Thomas easily dribbled past Vlietinck and put OHL in front once again in the 65th minute. The match finished 2-1 for Leuven, capping the team's impressive performance against one of the best clubs in Belgium.
Standard Liege was OHL's last Belgian opponent. The first-half ended with a one goal lead for Leuven, from Diedhiou's 1st minute strike. The 2nd half saw an impressive 4 goals being scored. Firstly, Samy Kehli doubled Leuven's lead in the 53rd minute, before Fopossi brought Liege back into the game 8 minutes after. George Thomas found himself on the scoresheet once more in the 76th minute, before Sam Hendriks completed the scoring with a goal in stoppage time. The match finished 4-1 for Leuven.
Leuven then faced RB Leipzig, in what was surely their biggest test yet. Sam Hendriks opened the score for the Belgian side in the 18th minute, but 23 year-old Marcel Halstenberg equalized almost immediately. On what was a balanced game, OHL couldn't net the ball despite their best efforts, while Leipzig went in front with Poulsen in the 60th minute. The match finished 1-2 in favour of Julian Nagelsmann's team.
And at last, OHL faced affiliate club Leicester City on the 4th of August. Brendan Rodgers' team finished 9th last season, with Jamie Vardy scoring 16 goals in 33 appearances. In a rather boring match, the only goal was scored in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, where Derrick Tshimanga scoring a half volley off a cross from 16 year-old sensation Yanis Azaouagh. OHL had the chance to score a second goal from the spot, but Mercier's penalty was saved by Danny Ward. The match finished 1-0 for Leuven.
Comment Replies
Scott: Of course he is. I only make good signings.
Seb: Our expectations have been set. Only thing remaining is to live up to them!
Justice: I agree. The fact that we signed them with no cost at all makes it even better. Let's just hope they'll perform well!
Jack: Thanks mate! We're going for 1st place and nothing less this year!
Mixed results, did well in the latter games against RBL and Leicester! Time to put down an impressive marker!
Some really impressive results in the mix there. The victory against Leicester will allow the team to take confidence and momentum into the league season.
Some quality results there, playing and beating some big sides! The upcoming season is looking exciting!
19-20: August/September
Proximus League
We had a dream start against KV Mechelen, who were predicted to finish 1st this season, beating them 1-5 away from home. George Thomas got a brace at his competitive debut, with Yanis Azaouagh getting on the scoresheet as well. A home match against KVC Westerlo followed, where we fell short, losing 1-2. Almost a week later, we faced RE Virton away. Sam Hendriks missed a pen, Kehli and Kerrouche scored 1 goal each and for the last quarter of the game, we were playing with 10 men, but managed to escape with a 0-2 win. The game against Tubize was a really bad one. We played worse than Barcelona did away at Anfield. While we did score in the 87th minute with loanee Alex Pascanu scoring, we conceded a goal from Lee Jae-Gun in the 93rd minute, making 1-1 the final score. A match against RU Saint-Gilloise followed, where we returned to good performances, beating them 0-2, with Thomas scoring his 3rd league goal.
The month of September saw us playing 4 league matches, 3 of which were at home, all chosen to be televised. We started with a strong 5-3 win against Beerschot, a game with 2 own-goals and a brace from George Thomas. Our next home game was against KV Mechelen, who we beat 1-5 on this season's matchday 1. We beat them once again, this time 3-1, with goals from Azaouagh and another brace from Thomas. George Thomas found himself on the scoresheet for the 4th match in a row, this time against RE Virton, with Samy Kehli scoring the 2nd goal. We ended September with an away trip to Westerlo, an extremely hard match. We hit the woodwork twice and Westerlo once. Both times had many chances, but we escaped with a win from 't Kuipje thanks to another goal from Thomas.
Cofidis Cup
Our cup journey started in the 4th round of the competition, against Dikkelvenne. We were 0-1 up with Mercier in the first 18 seconds of the game, with Samy Kehli doubling our lead 5 minutes later. Kehli completed his brace at the start of the 2nd half, while Sam Hendriks scroed a hat-trick inside 7 minutes (64, 67, pen 71). This match had an attendance of 786, 763 of which were OHL fans meaning that Dikkelvenne had just 23 fans in the game. In the 5th round of the Cup, we were drawn against RAAL Louviére, who despite not being on our best, we beat 1-0 thanks to a penalty goal from Thomas Henry.
In the 6th round, we were drawn to Jupiler Pro League side Sint-Truidense. The match was scheduled for the 25th of September at Den Dreef. With an attendance of 10.000 people, we tried our best to qualify for the next round. But it just wasn't meant to be. Dominating the game with 62% possession and having 24 shots, we conceded a heartbreaking goal in stoppage time from Mohamed Buya Turay, which sent us out of the competition.
We are sitting in 1st place with 22 points. KVC Westerlo are behind us just with 18 points and KSV Roeselare complete the top 3 with 14 points. As you can tell by the goal difference, we have been the best team in terms of goals, scoring 22 and conceding just 8 in the 9 league matches we have played. The biggest disappointment this season is Mechelen, who are sitting dead last in the league with just 1 win in 9 games.
I don't think there is any doubt regarding who will receive the POTM award. Of course, the award goes to Leicester loanee, George Thomas. Undoubtedly our most prolific player this season, scoring 9 goals and assisting 1 in his 10 appearances. An impressive player, surely one of our key players this season.
Mats Kool:
What a terrific first two months in charge. Everything went according to plan. I have finally gotten over what happened at Racing-Union and I am enjoying my life here in Belgium. I think we are serious contenders for the league this season and we are certainly proving it. It's still the 1st phase though, so I shouldn't get too excited. Dad is happy too, even though he's getting older every day, his life is also getting better. I don't know what I'd do without him. I love him more than my life and I can't be more proud to be his son.
Comment Replies
Justice: We're making history this season!Scott: We knew that all those teams were superior, but we proved that we're good ourselves!
Seb: Indeed, it's more exciting than the Sevilla appointment of King.
An incredible start under Mats. Thomas has been excellent and a four point gap already being opened at the top. A long way to go still, just need to stay focused!
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