Football Season Guide

Having brightly finished the past season in the top 10 after a consistent succession of positive and negative streaks, Sampdoria will be hoping for a repetition in the new campaign. They may even be dreaming of a fight for the European competitions, with coach Marco Giampaolo confirmed at the helm of the team again. The last couple of years, at Empoli and Sampdoria, have been particularly good for Giampaolo whose promising career has been tainted by too many early sackings. Compared to last season, he seems to have been given a stronger and deeper squad by the board. In fact, so far, only two regulars were sold for big money. Milan Skriniar, who had proven to be a solid centre-back during his short spell with the club, was sold to Inter while unpredictable Luis Muriel was let go to Sevilla. Players like Bruno Fernandes, Luca Cigarini and Ante Budimir also left but they had not been real key players in the past campaign. More players are set to leave. One in particular: Patrik Schick. The extraordinary 21-year-old Czech forward who became a star despite starting from the bench, scoring 11 goals and producing 5 assists, will be sold to the best offer for really big money. The board invested the money earned so far on some young and gifted players. The heart of the defence was strengthened by Gian Marco Ferrari, who had an extraordinary season with Crotone. Meanwhile, Nicola Murru, from Cagliari, could be preferred to the likes of Dodo and Daniel Pavlovic at left-back. Valerio Verre, one of the few ones to have a decent past season at Pescara, and Leonardo Capezzi, another good player from Crotone, are set to enjoy some relevant playing time in the midfield as alternatives to the ageing Edgar Barreto, or Dennis Praet and Lucas Torreira. The attack will be the department that will change the most. The departures of Muriel and most likely Schick could be matched by the arrivals of Gianluca Caprari, also from Pescara, and, most of all, Gaston Ramirez, who is back to Italy where he had greatly impressed with Bologna after a few seasons in England. The squad seems to still be incomplete as, at the moment, they are still looking for a right-back and a forward.