Van Wijk could not improve the results and his main task involved in avoiding relegation, in which the team succeeded only on the very last day of the competition in a won home match against direct competitors Lommel United.

In February 2017, Vandebroeck announced that the team had formed a pre-agreement with a Chinese investment company to perform a takeover of OH Leuven, stating that following the relegation a financial injection was needed to remain competitive.

The loan deals of Samuel Asamoah, Charni Ekangamene, Leandro Trossard, Slobodan Urošević and Oleksandr Volovyk were not extended, youngster Konstantinos Rougalas was allowed to leave the club and return to Greece [9] and the contracts of Frenchmen Jean Calvé and Rudy Riou, striker Kim Ojo and defender Kenny Van Hoevelen were either terminated or not prolonged.

[13] At this point, the only remaining players were goalkeeper Gillekens, defenders Delporte, Ngawa and Reynaud, midfielders Le Postollec and Lokando and strikers Azevedo, Kostovski and Sula, not even enough for a complete lineup.

The first additions arrived early June, as OH Leuven announced the contract extensions of Kenneth Houdret[14] and Pieterjan Monteyne,[15] while youngster Simon Bracke returned from loan to ASV Geel and was added to the squad.

[26] During the 2016–17 winter transfer window, OHL first released two players near the end of 2016 by terminating by mutual consent the contracts of youngster Tuur Houben[27] and only recently acquired goalkeeper Ram Strauss.