Football Season Guide

St. Gallen

In


Adonis Ajeti (def) (Wil), Nassim Ben Khalifa (att) (Lausanne), Noah Blasucci (U21), Philippe Koch (def) (Novara), Alessandro Kräuch (mid) (U21), Nico Krucker (gk) (U18), Stjepan Kukuruzovic (mid) (Vaduz), Gjelbrim Taipi (mid) (Schaffhausen)

Out


Pascal Albrecht (gk) (released), Lucas Cueto (sp) (def) (Preussen Münster), Gianluca Gaudino (sp) (mid) (Chievo Verona), Mohamed Gouaida (sp) (mid)(released), Mario Mutsch (sp) (def) (Progrès Niedercorn), Sejad Salihovic (sp) (mid) (released)

St.Gallen have been repeatedly disappointing their fans over the last two plus years, both in terms of results and playing style. The Green-Whites reached their peak in the 2013-14 season when they famously reached the group stage of the Europa League after eliminating Russian giants Spartak Moscow on their way. However, things have not been going well for them since, with neither Jeff Saibene nor Joe Zinnbauer managing to turn them into a top half side again. Zinnbauer, who was appointed early in the 2015-16 season, was fired near the end of the previous campaign, with former Vaduz boss Giorgio Contini taking over and leading the Green-Whites towards survival with ease. However, the club's ambitions are much bigger and he needs to build on the momentum his side have from the second half of the previous season, with an even bigger goal for him being to make St.Gallen a joy to watch again. The Green-Whites were the league's lowest-scoring side last season, having scored less than even relegated Vaduz. None of the players who left were in Contini's plans, while the list of arrivals contains three proven Super League players in Stjepan Kukuruzovic, Nassim Ben Khalifa and former Zurich captain Philippe Koch. Adonis Ajeti will be looking to establish himself as a Super League player and joins his brother Albian, who plays up top for the Green-Whites. Meanwhile, Gjelbrim Taipi signs after a solid Challenge League season with Schaffhausen but has no prior top flight experience. There is little doubt that St.Gallen's squad is stronger than the one they had last season and, with Contini already injecting a lot of life into the it upon his appointment. The Green-Whites' fans will be expecting their side to keep riding their momentum and keep improving.

Target


Their season will be seen as a genuine success only if they qualify for Europe but what is arguably as important is for them to change their playing style and start scoring more goals than they have in the last two seasons.