Football Season Guide

Sandro Schwarz endured a disappointing campaign in his first season in charge of Mainz as they flirted with relegation for large portions of the campaign, only just finishing above the red line, in 14th place just three points away from the relegation playoffs spot. Mainz had struggled at both ends of the pitch, managing to score just 38 goals while conceding 52 goals and ending with just nine wins over the course of the season. Schwarz has held on to his job despite the poor campaign but will be leading a weakened Mainz team when the season kicks off after the 05ers lost a few key players in the transfer market. The biggest of them will be Abdou Diallo who did bring a bit of stability to a poor defence last season but has since been sold to Borussia Dortmund, while first choice striker and last season's top scorer, Yoshinori Muto, and Suat Serdar, have also moved on to English club Newcastle United and Schalke respectively. Jonas Lossl's loan move to Huddersfield has been converted into a permanent transfer, leaving Rene Adler and Robin Zentner to fight it out for the spot in the starting lineup, but the duo struggled with injuries and inconsistencies last season. Mainz have once again been cautious in the transfer window and have opted to bring in foreign talent with no Bundesliga experience. Schwarz will hope Jean-Philippe Mateta will provide a better threat than Muto up front, with the attacker slamming home 19 goals for Le Havre in Ligue 2 last season. Moussa Niakhate will be looking to replace Diallo in the defense while Pierre Kunde has also been brought in from Atletico Madrid. Aaron Martin has arrived on a loan deal and is expected to be the first choice at left back, an area where Mainz were light last season with Gaetan Bussmann not able to convince Schwarz who often deployed Giulio Donati and Daniel Brosinski in the position, with the duo more comfortable playing at the other flank. Overall it has been a bit of an underwhelming transfer window for Mainz who have sold proven talent and brought in cheaper replacements. The lack of ambition shown in the market could come back to haunt the club who will need to get off to a good start in order to ensure they stay clear of the relegation zone. Having lost the spine of the team, Schwarz will be optimistic that the new signings will settle down quickly, but unless Mainz bring in more bodies to improve both the starting lineup and the bench strength, they face a long and tough battle for survival.