Lokeren (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Football club Lokeren-Temse faces a goalkeeper crisis as Brent Gabriël follows Jelle Merckx in departing, sparking an urgent search for new talent.
Gabriël joins 1B winner Zulte-Waregem, who will return to 1A play the following season. Gabriël has aspired to the highest class due to his ambition.
In the end, Brent Gabriël only defended the goal from 1B for one season at Lokeren-Temse. He moved over from the bankrupt KV Oostende in the summer of last year, and he quickly established himself as a regular at Daknam.
He managed to record 11 “clean sheets” in the 32 competition games played last season. In other words, he stopped every goal attempt in 11 games.
His desire to advance was well known, and he is now converting that into a three-season contract at Zulte-Waregem. That team, who won 1B, will compete in the first tier.
Additionally, Jelle Merckx is departing Lokeren-Temse. For Vigor Wuitens Hamme, who will also play in 1B next season, he is moving the team from 1B. Last season, Merckx was out of contract and spent a lot of time on the bench.
Simon Vervaecke, 18, is the only goalkeeper left in the Waaslanders’ core. In January, he left the defunct KMSK Deinze. Vervaecke’s contract at Lokeren-Temse has already been renewed for an additional four seasons.
To defend the Lokerse goal, however, the Waaslanders desperately need to find fresh blood.
What are Lokeren-Temse’s plans to strengthen their goalkeeping squad?
With the departure of both their main goalie, Jelle Merckx, and their second goalkeeper, Brent Gabriël, who moved to Zulte-Waregem, Lokeren-Temse is facing a serious goalkeeping dilemma.
In order to solve this, the team seems to be depending on its current group of young goalkeepers to cover the void, and it is probably looking to add fresh talent to bolster the position.
Heiner Arrindell (20), Yben Baert (20), Yesten Baert (22), Bas Merci (18), Victor Pepermans (21), and Simon Vervacke (18) are among the team’s young goalkeepers who have the potential to advance to more important positions.
These younger players might be offered chances to step in as more seasoned goalkeepers go, but the team will seek out more seasoned replacements to maintain stability.
