The 31-year old Italian Mattia Notari today signed a two-year contract with Lierse. Notari (b.20/05/79) transfers from Italian second division club AC Mantova. Notari is a central defender, strong in the air and right footed. He served his youth apprenticeship at AC Milan, after which he played for Catania, Novara and Mantova. As captain he led his side from the fourth division (Serie C2) to second division (Serie B) in the space of three years. 

Along with the Hungarian Peter Kovacs and the South African Siboniso Gaxa, Lierse have reached agreement with the Angolan Felisberto Sebastiao Da Graca Amaral. Better known as Gilberto. He's signed a two-year contract. Gilberto is nearly 28 (b.21/09/82), and has been training with the first team squad for a while, and had already undergone medical tests. The delay was due to the release papers from his former club, Al-Ahly in Egypt. He's played there for the last eight years. The release papers were received today.

Siboniso ‘Pa’ Gaxa (b. 06/03/84, Durban) is a 26-year old South African  footballer who has signed for Lierse from the South African First division club Mamelodi Sundowns. He has won 40 caps for Bafana Bafana, the South African National team, and was part of their World Cup squad.. Gaxa is a youth product of the FC Copenhagen School of Excellence, which is linked to Port Elisabeth University. Elrio van Heerden was a colleague of his there.   Gaxa began his career with Supersport United and joined Mamelodi Sundowns in 2008.

Straight after newcomer Wesley Sonck had signed his two-year contract, Lierse.com had a brief word with him:

Lierse.com garnered some comments after the home defeat by Kortrijk

The floods in Pakistan are threatening millions of people. Twenty million, according to the Pakistan government. Unicef, the UN Children fund, says that three million children are in danger because of water related diseases. It is painful to see that for the moment, too little is being done to help those people. It is too far away, it is a holiday period, it wasn’t a disaster in which thousands of people died instantly: so many reasons that can explain the lack of financial support. But the world belongs to everyone and everyone has the right to live.

 ++ As expected Dayton has today signed a three-year contract with Lierse ++

In the second half of Lierse-Standard Gonzague Vandooren suffered an injury. The Lierse left back collided with a Standard defender following an effort on goal (which almost made the score 2-2), and  broke his toe. Vandooren is 4 weeks out.

Lierse lost their first match back in the top flight of Belgian football on Saturday evening. It finished 1-0 at STVV. Coach Anthuenis opted for a 4-5-1 formation, Kawashima, Van Hemert and Davids got the nod over Kujovic, Frans and Sekour respectively. Camacho played at left back, Vandooren in central defence.