Football Season Guide

Sampdoria begin life without coach Giampaolo after 3 seasons filled with peaks and disappointments. They always managed to play decent football, scoring plenty of goals, and were always difficult to beat at home, but regularly stopped playing towards the end of the campaign. Not too surprisingly, they always ended up mid-table and never really were in contention for European football. Eusebio Di Francesco, who did wonders at Sassuolo but could not finish the job started at Roma having been sacked, is the new man at the helm, and he seems a right choice as his football is pretty similar to his predecessor’s, although he prefers a 4-3-3 formation to the 4-3-1-2 Sampdoria got used to. During the summer, Sampdoria lost 2 main performers from the past season: both Andersen and Praet were sold for good money, thus leaving two holes in the squad. In order to replace the Danish defender, they acquired on loan Murillo, who is back in Serie A after an unmemorable experience in Spain, while the young German Chabot could represent a promising back-up for the Colombian and Colley. After an anonymous campaign, Jankto should step up in the starting eleven and take Praet’s place in the hearts of the supporters, while Thorsby should earn some playing time in due course. Having no further need for an attacking midfielder, Sampdoria let Saponara go, while Ramirez might be on the departure list. The 20-year-old Maroni, on loan from Boca, could become a protagonist as a winger. Depaoli could also represent a wise signing, as full-backs had injury issues in the past campaign. Sampdoria do lack some depth especially in the attack, which lost Defrel, who scored 11 goals, and where Quagliarella is 36 and cannot be expected to provide another record performance as in the past 2 seasons.