Football Season Guide

Against all expectations and despite a rather shocking start to their adventure, Sassuolo, who had never played in the top flight of the Italian football, succeeded surviving in the league for two seasons in a row often offering a pleasant football, courtesy of coach Di Francesco’s aggressive approach. Their new campaign will start without one of their main heroes, though, as Zaza was eventually sold to Juventus. He was not the only one to leave as also Taider, who had managed to play a few good games in the past campaign, was called back by Inter. On the other hand, the likes of Brighi, Polito and Lazarevic will not be particularly missed. Such departures obviously led to some new arrivals. Among them, the most important seem to be represented by Defrel, who should replace Zaza after an impressive season with relegated Cesena, and Duncan, who is expected to provide cover in the middle of the park. Thus, Sassuolo’s starting eleven should not change much from the past campaign. In fact, Consigli will be confirmed in goals with Vrsaljko, or Fontanesi in case the former ended up being sold, and Peluso as the full-backs while Cannavaro and Acerbi would be acting in the heart of the defence. Terranova and Ariaudo do not seem some valid alternatives, though. In the midfield, Missiroli, Magnanelli and Biondini could be the ones to start with Duncan and Laribi, who had a positive season with Bologna, ready to step in when needed. The forward three will be formed by Sansone, Berardi, possibly at his last season with the club, and Defrel. The feeling is that they might need to sign another valid striker as the Frenchman is still a bit immature, such as Politano and Falcinelli, and Floccari and Floro Flores, who are all cramming the bench, have never scored tons of goals. Thus, Sassuolo might benefit from some more transfer activity before the season kicks off.