Football Season Guide

Strasbourg go into the new Ligue 1 season with tremendous ambition after recently being taken over by the group that owns Premier League side Chelsea. It will very probably mean a linkup between the two clubs this summer, with two or three players expected to make their way to Racing by way of a loan deal come the end of August. Racing flirted with relegation last season but really should have achieved far more. With just nine wins, they saw their number of victories slashed in half from the previous season. Much more will be expected this time around, with Partick Vieira having been handed the reins, despite a poor record previously at Nice in Ligue 1. The squad that underperformed last season has not been stripped by any means. Centre-backs Alexandre Djiku and Maxime Le Marchand have departed the club, while veteran midfielder Dimitri Lienard has departed for Bastia. Otherwise, they have not lost any first-team regulars, although prolific striker Habib Diallo is linked with a move away and Morgan Sanson’s loan from Aston Villa has ended, depriving Racing of a creative midfield force. Strasbourg, meanwhile, have flexed their new financial muscles by signing Abakar Sylla from Brugge for a club-record fee to slot into their defence, while Sturm Graz forward Emanuel Emegha has also arrived for big money. Midfielder Jessy Deminguet, meanwhile, has signed from Caen on a Bosman deal having been frozen out by his club for much of last season. It may take him time to get up to speed, but he is a classy performer. Racing’s strength is currently in the number of promising attacking options that they boast, while the midfield remains a very solid unit. In this part of the team, the form of Habib Diarra is worth following as he finished last term spectacularly and attracted great interest as a consequence. The wing-back areas look understaffed early in the season and the defence generally looks the weakest part of the squad. Even goalkeeper Matz Sels was not at his best last season.