Football Season Guide

Mainz were nothing short of remarkable last season and a brilliant start set them up for one of the best campaigns in their history. They could not quite maintain the pace of that and fell out of the title race but were still able to cling on to a place in Europe. Admittedly their form after Christmas was less consistent and they have reason to be nervous over summer having lost both Schurrle and Holtby, two superb players from their first team squad, but the signings they have made could be decent. Several from the Norwegian league have excelled in Germany recently so striker Ujah will hope to follow this example while Choupo-Moting has a lot to prove having never been given a fair chance with HSV. Stieber and Muller did very well in the lower league last season while a number of other signings, which are more of a gamble, means the squad at least still has some decent depth. Mainz will be hopeful of another good season but with bigger clubs unlikely to be as poor as last time, the competition for Europe will be intense and it will be a real surprise if they finish in the top five on this occasion.