Football Season Guide

Sevilla finished fourth for the second season in a row, but they were a lot closer to the top three last season than they had been the year before. Their points tally of 77 was even a club record. They have a settled team and the players now well and truly feel comfortable in coach Julen Lopetegui’s system. For that reason, big things are expected of Sevilla this campaign. There is always a lot of personnel turnover at the club, as sporting director Monchi is one of football’s great wheeler and dealers. But, the summer changes have largely been to improve the squad. Sevilla have even been accused of short-termism, for transfers such as a swap of young talent Bryan Gil for the more established Erik Lamela, but perhaps short-termism is the right approach considering this season’s LaLiga title race could be more open than ever. Sevilla are a settled and solid team that can defend well with the excellent partnership of Jules Kounde and Diego Carlos and that can score goals with the likes of Youssef En-Nesyri and Lucas Ocampos. They can beat anyone on their day and their only issue in the past couple of years has been consistency. If they can just be a little more consistent against the division’s weaker sides, they could even launch a title challenge.