Football Season Guide

Coach Roberto De Zerbi has led Sassuolo for 3 seasons and in each one of them the team has progressed both in terms of results and quality of football. Unfortunately for them they missed out on qualification to the UEFA Conference League, goal difference seeing Roma place ahead of them. Sassuolo hoped to carry on working with the talented gaffer but he saw that his time at the club had come to an end and was lured away by Shakhtar Donetsk money. As is their tradition, the management went looking for a young and promising coach. In comes Federico Dionisi, who in the past campaign achieved promotion to Serie A with Empoli. The new man at the helm loves to work with youngsters, which perfectly matches the club's philosophy. That said, he has no Serie A experience either as a coach, or as a player. Thus far, Sassuolo have not been particularly active over the summer as they only lost back-up centre-back Marlon, who followed De Zerbi to Shakhtar. More big names could also quit in the next weeks, especially the leader of the midfield, Locatelli who seems set to join Juventus. A group of players returned from loan with forward Scamacca having acquired star status at Genoa: he could compete with ageing Caputo in attack. Moreover, Lopez, Traore and Toljan saw their loans turned into permanent transfers. Locatelli's departure would leave a hole in the midfield and, therefore, they signed promising Matheus Henrique from Gremio but they are also looking for another central midfielder. Another centre-back is also needed in order to fill the void left by Marlon.