Football Season Guide

After a very promising first half of the season, in 2015, when they seemed to be capable of competing for the Scudetto, Fiorentina’s experience with coach Paulo Sousa at the helm rapidly turned into a sour one. In fact, the Portuguese manager was never granted the strengthening he regularly asked the board for and the results logically worsened. Thus, he eventually had to quit after two troublesome years. Stefano Pioli, fresh from the disastrous adventure with Inter, was given the reins of the team for the new season but he has been given no real squad so far! In fact, in a very short stretch of time, he saw the departure of almost all the key players at the club: Federico Bernardeschi, Borja Valero, Matias Vecino, Ciprian Tatarusanu and Gonzalo Rodriguez all left for pastures new. Some players who had failed to impress during their stay in Florence such as Cristian Tello, Sebastian De Maio, Hrvoje Milic and Carlos Salcedo all left too. Even more stars might be leaving in the nearest future, with Nikola Kalinic and Milan Badelj being rumoured for possible moves to Milan. The coach has always proven capable of working with young players, such as with Lazio or Bologna, and he will be asked to do that again. He will likely adopt a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-5-2 formation. Luckily enough, new players started arriving and some of them might prove very interesting ones. Marco Sportiello should be the first choice goalkeeper after half a season deputizing for Tatarusanu. The new-comer, Bruno Gaspar, from Vitoria, and Ruben Oliveira, who stayed despite a poor season, should be the full-backs. Vitor Hugo, from Palmeiras, and Davide Astori will likely play in the heart of the defence. The promising Nikola Milenkovic and Nenad Tomovic are ready to step in when needed. The just-arrived Marco Benassi, Badelj, provided he does not leave, and Jordan Veretout should all be favoured as holding midfielders with Carlos Sanchez and Sebastian Cristoforo providing for cover. Federico Chiesa, Valentin Eysseric, Riccardo Saponara and Rafik Zekhnini should thus be the attacking midfielders. Kalinic, if he remains, or Khouma Babacar, should be the sole striker. More arrivals can be expected before the end of August as Fiorentina are looking for a striker, some full-backs and a midfielder. More youths could find some playing time, such as Ianis Hagi, who is pushing for the limelight.