Let's talk about the goalies at Sint-Truiden
Updated: Jul 7, 2022
Today lets talk about Belgian side Sint-Truiden. For those who dont know, Sint-Truiden have four goalkeepers under contract.
Daniel Schmidt
30 years (end of contract info not available, but latest contract renewalsigned in summer 2021)
Marketvalue: € 650.000
Sorare limited price on 3/4/22 7day average: 0.045 eth
Kenny Steppe
33 years (contract till 2023)
Marketvalue: € 250.000
Sorare limited price on 3/4/22 7day average: 0.0022 eth
Wim Vanmarsenille
19 years (contract till 2022)
Marketvalue: € 100.000 (under23 in SO5 till 2027)
Sorare limited price on 1/4/22 7day average: 0.0044 eth
Alessandro Russo
21 years (on loan from Sassuolo, no buy option)
Marketvalue: € 500.000
No sorare cards minted yet
This season the obvious number 1 is Japanese Daniel Schmidt, but before and at the start of the season there were rumours about what could happen with the keepers in the club.
Daniel Schmidt came to Europe 3 seasons ago, after playing all his career in Japan. The
previous 3, before arriving in Belgium, playing J-League 1.
Sint-Truiden has Japanese owners (even Kagawa signed this winter), so it was not strange at that moment that an extra Japanese player arrived. Players playing in Japan are not that known (Sorare didnt exist yet -:)), so especially a goalkeeper, who knew atm what to expect. When he arrived it was very unclear what would happen with the gk spot in the club.
2nd gk Lucas Pirard (2nd gk in Union right now) left to W-Beveren and Kenny Steppe played the whole season before as 1st gk of the club. Schmidt did got his chance as 1st gk quiet fast, cause of injury of Steppe. The opposite happened that same season cause of a serious injury for Schmidt.
Last season, with Schmidt still recovering from injury, Steppe started as 1st goalie. Even
when Schmidt came back, Steppe kept his spot. But after some average performances,
Schmidt got and took his chance. He played on a more then decent level the rest of the
season and was the clear number 1 for the season. They renewed his contract last summer, showing their confidence in him, but before he renewed there were some rumours around keepers the club wanted to sign. This season though he only confirms his level, the fact that Steppe has a serious injury doesn't give him any decent competition, but he is playing a good season, especially the second half of it.
Do have to say that last summer with rumours of Steppe going to Anderlecht as 2nd or 3rd gk (in the end they signed Coosemans, cause they couldn't agree the transfer fee with Sint-Truiden and Steppe didn't want to be a number 3 yet) the club was interested in signing Davy Roef, so unclear what would have happened if they did sign him and what would have happened with Schmidt. Dont think he would have renewed his contract then. Schmidt already mentioned in the media that its his dream to play in England, he has 7 caps for his country, so work permit is not impossible, but he is only the current number 3 for Japan behind Gonda and Kawashima.
At Sint-Truiden, with his Japanese owners and being the number 1 goalkeeper for almost 2 seasons, it would make sense he just stays there as number 1. Unclear when the contract finishes, so no indications there when they would need to sell him.
Steppe was a big talent in his younger years playing for Beerschot, as an 18 year old he even played a full season as the number 1 for Beerschot in the Jpl. Unfortunately for him it would take more then 10 years until he became the number 1 again somewhere, that year was in Sint-Truiden as mentioned above.
Contract till next year, it will depend what Schmidt will do to know what he might do. If
Schmidt stays, it's clear he will be number 2, and who knows if he would want to leave than to become number 2 in a Belgian topteam (remember the rumour from last season about Anderlecht), but on the other hand who would want to pay a transfer fee for a 33 year old 2nd goalie. If Schmidt leaves, would make sense he stays for sure and some competitor will arrive, an actual 1st gk, who Steppe can give competition to.
Vanmarsenille is out of contract, not any news there about renewal or not. Russo was a very weird loan transfer (on loan from Sassuolo) this winter. Schmidt had to go on international duty for 2 weeks with Japan and Steppe was injured, so they signed that guy for the rest of the season, but more for only 2 matches. Didn't make a great impression, so when Schmidt returned, he went to the bench. Unclear what his future looks like.