Football Season Guide

Having obtained a rather troublesome safety in the past two seasons, Genoa underwent a major overhaul during the summer, as regularly occurred since their last qualification to the Europa League in 2009. In fact, President Preziosi is extremely ambitious and he aims at reaching a place in the elite of the Italian football but, so far, he proved incapable of doing so. Several have been the coaches who found themselves at the helm of the team in the recent past but Delneri, De Canio, Malesani, Ballardini and Marino all failed in a way or another. Fabio Liverani will be the new man in charge and his lack of experience could certainly represent a major problem in the short and long run. Great is the number of players who left during the summer: Rossi, Immobile, Moretti, Frey, Vargas, Jankovic, Ferronetti, Cassani, Rigoni, Matuzalem, who might return though, and Borriello, to name a few. Even greater, on the other hand, is the number of players who arrived or returned to base after a loan. In particular, Perin will be expected to act in goals while Vrsaljko and Marchese could end up as the new full-backs with Portanova and Manfredini, Granqvist and Polenta all competing for the places as centre-backs. Lodi will become the new anchor in the midfield alongside confirmed Kucka and returning Biondini, with Santana, Cofie and Strasser as valid alternatives. Bertolacci should act as the attacking midfielder right behind Floro Flores and Gilardino. The management is trying to complete the squad with some new signings especially for the attack.