In the space of one window, Lyon have provided Gent with almost €40m in transfer fees. The Ligue 1 side picked up Malick Fofana and striker Gift Orban, with deals having the potential to push €20m each. Having been in a difficult financial position a few months ago, the outlook for the Buffaloes is suddenly looking a lot better.
However, the loss of these two does mean that a side that looked to have good strength in depth could be pretty light. With a host of players away at AFCON and the Asia Cup, the next few weeks could be difficult for Gent. Unfortunately, they can ill afford to drop points. On paper, to star the season, many predicted a title challenge from Hein Vanhaezebrouck’s side. Yet balancing the desire to compete with the need to be financially prudent is something owners of all football clubs, bar those at the very top backed by states with unlimited funds, need to keep an eye on.
Lets be honest though, Gent did the right thing. The money for these two players was too good to turn down, especially for Orban whose prolific scoring run had began to really slow down this season. He only managed three goals in 17 matches and looked a young player searching for that confidence again. Hopefully a move to Lyon will help him rediscover his form.
Gent have not been idle this window. They signed Daniel Schmidt to cover for goalkeeping injuries, a cheap deal for a very experienced Pro League and international goalkeeper. With Fofana gone they also brought in Daisuke Yokota from Gornik Zabrze. The 23-year-old looks to be a very exciting new addition, with seven goals and one assist in 18 Exkstraklasa games.
Yet upfront, with Tarik Tissoudali at AFCON, the side have gone from a plethora of choices to reliance on Hugo Cuypers. They can ill afford an injury to the Belgian forward, who has followed up on his great season last time out with six goals in 18 Pro League games. While Orban had been the player coming off the bench, the Buffaloes are now having to look to a 35-year-old Laurent Depoitre to contribute more. The former Huddersfield man has now fully recovered from injuries, but its unclear how much impact he can still have.
Vanhaezebrouck recently stated that he expects Gent to operate like a ‘top’ club this summer in terms of signings. However, if they have any ambitions of mounting a serious title challenge this season, they may want to look into replacing Orban with another young striker that can play back up to Cuypers and Tissoudali when the latter returns.
