Football Season Guide

Sevilla’s 2019/20 campaign could hardly have gone any better. They finished fourth in the table to qualify for the Champions League and they won the Europa League. This was Julen Lopetegui’s first year in charge as coach of the club, while it was the first season since Monchi’s return as sporting director. So it was a great start to a promising project that Sevilla hope will continue. Sevilla have seen a lot of loanees return this summer, although many will likely be moved on again. The main transfer activity of note apart from the loan dealings is the fact that Ivan Rakitic has been signed to fill the void left by the departing Ever Banega. So Sevilla should have a similar quality squad for next season. There is great optimism, then, at the club. They have a solid squad and Lopetegui has installed a possession-based playing style that works very well. If there is a weakness, then it may be that they lack a truly reliable centre-forward. Luuk de Jong came up big in the final stages of the Europa League, but had been spurning good chances all season long before that. It doesn’t look like Sevilla will be signing a new starting striker, so they’ll have to hope De Jong is more consistent this year.