Football Season Guide

Sassuolo are going into their fifth season in Serie A and the feeling is that they do not actually know what they want to become in the future. The campaigns with Eusebio Di Francesco at the helm turned them into a team capable of competing for the European spots but there seems to have been a downsizing of their ambitions following the last poor campaign. In fact, the management opted for Bucchi as the new man in charge of the team and it remains to be seen whether this is a wise decision. The former Perugia coach only had a very negative experience in Serie A with Pescara back in 2013 but that was not his fault. Since then, he lead Maceratese and Perugia to the play-offs in Lega Pro and Serie B respectively. Neither of those brought success though and his lack of experience at this level could turn out to be a key problem. Apart from that, the summer transfer campaign was not a memorable one, even though Sassuolo can rely on a rather interesting budget. A couple of departures could end up affecting the squad more than expected. Gregoire Defrel, the leader of their attack alongside Domenico Berardi, and Lorenzo Pellegrini, who had become a protagonist in the midfield profiting from the array of injuries that plagued Sassuolo last season, both left for Roma. Alberto Aquilani was the other major departure as his loan expired but he had not had much time to become a hero for the supporters. As per their usual policy, Sassuolo signed a few youngsters who are expected to grow up during the next months. Among them, Francesco Cassata seems to be the only one who has any real chance to make the starting eleven from time to time, after his past campaign with Ascoli. Former Palermo defender Edoardo Goldaniga will be competing for a place in the back-four. The attack will see the return of Diego Falcinelli from loan after his impressive season at Crotone and he is expected to fill the boots of the departed Defrel. This might not be enough for their attack though.