Football Season Guide

Since the arrival of President Preziosi as owner of the club, for Genoa it has become a regular tradition changing substantially the whole squad during the transfer season. Each and every summer, plenty of new faces arrive in Genoa while several more leave. Obviously, this happens since the campaign regularly turned out to be a fiasco. In fact, Preziosi aims at some European football for his glorious club but the team, so far, has been incapable of getting out of mere mediocrity. Now, after the end of the Gasperini era, terminated with a rather unjust sacking, time has come for coach Malesani to get in charge. Former Bologna coach, just like his illustrious predecessor, loves a spectacular football and he has always succeeded when given the right men. Truth be said, it seems that, this time, he was blessed by a triumphal, but that is the rule in Genoa, and well-thought-of transfer campaign. The new revolution has touched the spine of the team. So, in goals, stuttering Eduardo has been replaced by miracle-worker Frey. The centre-backs Dainelli and Kaladze were confirmed while, with Konko and Criscito gone, Rossi and Antonelli will step in as the regular full-backs. In the midfield, Kucka is the only survivor of this new revolution: Constant, possibly the best of the newly-arrived players, and Seymour will be expected to provide with some quantity. Birsa, at the top of the diamond, should provide the quality for Palacio, one of the few Rossoblu to have been impressive in the past season, and Pratto, whose only taste of European football was in the Tippeligaen a few years back. Players like Ribas, Granqvist and Merkel could be seriously valid alternatives for the regulars and they could be decisive during the season.