Football Season Guide

Dinamo Moscow are aiming to establish themselves as a credible force in the top-flight of Russian football again after a year in the wilderness in the second division. They passed the examination with flying colours last season as they were head and shoulders the best side in their league and winning the title was one long procession for he Blue & Whites. It was definitely refreshing for the fans to see it after a horrible previous season and Yuriy Kalitvintsev deserves credit for restoring winning mentality in what was a deeply dysfunctional squad. The Ukrainian coach showed that he has the ability to lift the morale of the squad and will be certainly aiming to show his quality in the top division, where his only previous experience was overseeing the relegation of Volga Nizhnyi Novgorod in 2014. Now he is facing much more of a challenge as Dinamo still have lots of work to do to return to the level from a few years back when they were challenging from the top three. The club's main transfer business in the summer was completing the permanent deal for Kirill Panchenko from CSKA Moscow, after he scored 24 goals in the promotion-winning campaign. Moreover, the signings of Samba Sow and Toni Sunjic give the team muscle and assurance in defence and midfield, while Wanderson is a smart addition up front, where Dinamo already have an abundance of options. Aleksei Ionov is also back from a stint on loan at CSKA and, if he is focused and used properly, he will be a massive asset too. There have been no major departures so far and, as a whole, the mood is one of optimism and anticipation as one of the country's big clubs returns to where they belong. Yet, they need to lower their expectations a bit, as the challenges will be a lot tougher this season and Dinamo will do well to just establish themselves in mid-table and avoid of the drama from a couple of years back.