Football Season Guide

Serie A
Brazil
Serie A
2017
EC Vitoria
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EC Vitoria

In


Jesús Dátolo (Mid, Atletico Mineiro), Uillian Correia (Mid, Cruzeiro, on loan), Willian Farias (Mid, Cruzeiro), André Lima (Att, Atletico Paranaense), Paulinho (Att, Flamengo, on loan), Alan Costa (Def, Internacional, on loan), Gabriel Xavier (Mid, Cruzeiro, on loan), Cleiton Xavier (Mid, Palmeiras), Renê (Def, Dinamo Tbilisi), Geferson (Def, Internacional, on loan), Patric (Def, Atletico Mineiro on loan), Fred (Def, Gremio, on loan), Jean Pineda (Mid, free agent), Romário (Def, Londrina, end of loan), Leonardo Pisculichi (Mid, free agent), Leandro Salino (Def, free agent), Léo Ceará (Att, Ryukyu, end of loan)

Out


Marinho (Mid, Yatai), Ramon (Def, M. Tel Aviv, on loan), Zé Eduardo (Att, Figueirense), Rodrigo Ramallo (Att, Strongest), Vander (Mid, Chiangrai), Diogo (Mid, Ponte Preta, end of loan), Serginho (Mid, Santos, end of loan), Victor Ramos (Def, Monterry, end of loan), Willian Farias (Mid, Cruzeiro, end of loan), Alípio (Att, Tombense, end of loan), Tiago Real (Mid, Palmeiras, end of loan), Norberto Neto (Def, Ypiranga-BA, end of loan), Guilherme Mattis (Def, Bragantino, end of loan), Diego Renan (Def, Cruzeiro, end of loan), Leandro Domingues (Mid, released), Amaral (Mid, released)

With just a few games of the 2016 Brazilian Serie A season remaining, it looked like Vitoria were going to suffer relegation. Yet they were saved in the last few weeks thanks to a spectacular month of football from Marino, who scored and assisted the club to safety. Vitoria really were a one-player team at points towards the end of last season, so it has been a massive blow for them that this player has moved on, sealing a big money move to the Chinese Super League in the off-season. Despite that loss, Vitoria have appeared to spend the money they received wisely and they now have a much more balanced and deeper squad, even if there is no longer one standout player. Jesús Dátolo, Willian Farias, Geferson, Cleiton Xavier, Gabriel Xavier, Leandro Salino, Fred and Patric have all been brought in and they are all experienced at this level. However, it is true that most of those players were only available because they are no longer good enough for a top level club and the squad may now be a little too old and injury-prone, something which a poor pre-season demonstrated. Their elimination from the Brazilian Cup and poor State Championship performances led to coach Algers Fucks being fired just before the start of the season and Wesley Carvalho has come in as interim coach with little time to install his methods before the beginning of the Serie A season. As such, Vitoria is a club in a state of turmoil as the season kicks off, but if they can get things under control then they should have a talented enough squad to fight off relegation once more.

Target


For Vitoria, avoiding relegation should be the target once again. They may have lost their superstar, but they have invested in squad depth and have strengthened bit by bit at several positions. They are not a favourite to be relegated, but they are expected to be involved in the battle to avoid the drop.