A closer look into the goalkeepers of KV Oostende

Today lets talk about Belgian side KV Oostende.

For those who dont know, Oostende have three goalkeepers under contract.

Kjell Scherpen

• 22 years (on loan from Brighton till 2022, no buy option)

• Marketvalue: € 2.200.000 (under23 in SO5 till 2024)

• No limited cards minted yet, Rares do exist but not enough sales lately to give a decent average yet.

Guillaume Hubert

• 28 years (contract till 2023)

• Marketvalue: € 750.000

• Sorare limited price on 15/5/22 7day average: 0.026 eth

Jordy Schelfhout

• 21 years (contract till 2023)

• Marketvalue: € 100.000 (under23 in SO5 till 2025)

• Sorare limited price on 15/5/22 7day average: 0.006 eth

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KV Oostende, a team where the 1st goalkeeper lost his spot, but the new one didn't convince that much. From Hubert to Scherpen and back, where Guillaume Hubert was the undisputed goalkeeper of the team for 1,5 years.

I don't want to repeat myself that much, but if you read the last article (about Union: here) it's quiet popular to play in the Standard youth teams, also Hubert did it, although he played part of his youth in France as well for Valenciennes, which is very close to the Belgian border. One big difference between the Union guys and Hubert, he actually made it to the 1st team.

Especially at that time it was not that logical a youth player became number 1, talking about around 2015, when Standard was still a topteam in Belgium, fighting for the title and playing in European competitions almost every year. (later on it would happen again with Bodart)

When he was on the number 2 at the age of 21, giving competition to Y. Thuram, the Standard goalkeeper for the 2 seasons before, he actually won the spot in goal, and performed quiet well as number 1. But the trust in him was not big enough to let him play the rest of the season and they brought in Victor Valdes in wintertime (yes thé Victor Valdes) and he went to the bench again. The season after his competitor was former Standard youth player J-F Gillet (at the end of his career). Although they both played matches, it was mainly Gillet who played.

After that season, when Standard signed Ochoa, it was time to move on. At that age you would expect him to go to another Jupiler Pro League team, mid-table team to become number 1 somewhere, but Club Brugge paid a small fee for him as their 2nd gk.

Mainly to give competition to Ethan Horvath and Ludovic Butelle at that time. Those were also the years where Club Brugge suffered a lot with their goalkeepers and almost every year changed their 1st gk (often more then once a season). The season i am referring to, which was Hubert his first season there, is 17-18, a season where Club Brugge used at least 5 different goalies (maybe i am even missing one), but Horvath, Butelle, Hubert, Vermeer and Gabulov, all played matches. Hubert only 4 of them though.

Season next, when Club Brugge, brought in again another goalie (Letica), he knew it was a season as 3rd goalkeeper, and time to think whats next. When he got loaned out to neighbors Cercle Brugge, it was quiet clear from the beginning it was not as their 1st goalkeeper. The mess with different goalkeepers in Club Brugge 2 seasons before, repeated himself in Cercle, that same season with also 4 different goalies, Hubert playing 8 matches.

It would take until last season until he actually became a fixed number 1 in a team, signing for KV Oostende, where he played all the matches until last winter (1,5 season). The doubts surrounding him in his previous teams, looked like they were back. The board indicated they wanted to bring in an extra goalkeeper to give competition (also because Schelfhout was injured), but signing Scherpen on loan was more then just giving competition to your number 1.

Do have to say that the performances of Hubert were not that great this season, conceding a lot of goals, not winning a lot of points for his team. But Scherpen was not that much better, quiet the opposite, very inconsistent performances as their number 1 the small amount of matches he played.

With Vanderhaeghe confirmed for next year as well as their manager, its up to see what will happen with the keepers next season. Signing a keeper like Scherpen on loan, does indicate there are doubts within the club about Hubert, but Scherpen didn't seem the best option if you look at his performances. If they stick to that same idea, would make sense an extra goalie would join the club. But maybe the club wants to emphasize on other positions instead of finding an extra goalie. Important to know is that the club owners have a lot of other clubs in their portfolio. Barnsley, FC Thun and Nancy. Do they come up with players from there?

On loan goalkeeper Scherpen as mentioned didn't play that well the 7 matches he played. A huge talent, who already played a full season as number 1 in the dutch eredivisie when he was only 18 years old.

After being sold to Ajax, he played his matches in the 2nd division, before he was sold last summer to Brighton. Where it looked like he had a huge future in front of him some years ago, important for him to start playing regular 1st division football somewhere, dont see that happening in Premier league club Brighton. A loan would still be the best from him, but not in Oostende.

Schelfhout actually made his professional debut this season in the cup matches and even one competition match, where he made a very decent impression. Would be a pity he would become number 3 in Oostende and like that, not giving him not any chance to grow as a keeper on a decent level.

Disclaimer: this is not any Sorare or financial advice, i am just expressing my own ideas. Do your own research if you would want to buy or sell one of their cards.