Football Season Guide

The past season undoubtedly was an undecipherable one for Genoa. Having started with Ivan Juric at the helm, they immediately found themselves among the top teams, even giving Juventus a heavy defeat. However, then all of a sudden they just gave up playing. Andrea Mandorlini’s spell in charge of the team made Genoa sink even lower so that they found themselves fighting for salvation in the final weeks of the campaign. Juric's return eventually brought them to tranquillity and, for such reason, he was confirmed as the gaffer for this coming campaign. There was plenty of movement at Genoa during the summer with several players quitting and many more coming or returning from loans. If nothing else, Genoa management proved very wise in not letting go two of their key players - the returning from injury Mattia Perin and rising star Giovanni Simeone, one of the few ones to have impressed in the past season with 12 goals in Serie A. The defence had to be completely renewed during the transfer window as players like Nicolas Burdisso, Ezequiel Munoz and Lucas Orban left while Armando Izzo will still have to spend some time under suspension due to match fixing. Therefore, the back three in a 3-4-2-1 formation should be formed by Davide Biraschi, who could be promoted to the starting eleven despite some inconsistent performances last spring. Nicolas Spolli and Ervin Zukanovic with Santiago Gentiletti are ready to deputise. Curiously enough, the midfield was not heavily touched during the summer. Andrea Bertolacci was the main arrival and he is in need of redemption after a disappointing stay at Milan. He should slot into the middle of the park together with Migeul Veloso. Meanwhile, Darko Lazovic or the returning-from-loan Aleandro Rosi and Diego Laxalt should be compete for places on the flanks. Luca Rigoni, Oliver Ntcham, Goran Pandev, Raffaele Palladino and Simeone will be contending for the attacking roles. They will be expected to support Gianluca Lapadula whose season at Milan was not as memorable as he would have liked. Genoa seem to be a more solid team than they were last season but they are still looking for players in all the departments and so they might be somehow incomplete, as of now.