Football Season Guide

Sevilla

In


Marcao (def) Galatasaray; Rony Lopes Olympiacos (att) – end of loan;

Out


Javi Diaz (sp) (gk) Tenerife; Jules Kounde (k) (def) Barcelona; Diego Carlos (r) (def) Aston Villa; Ludwig Augustinsson (sp) (def) Aston Villa; Anthony Martial (r) (att) Manchester United – end of loan;

Going into last season, Sevilla were expected to seriously challenge for the title. They had made some short-term-minded transfer decisions and had a very strong squad, but it just didn’t work out. They ultimately finished fourth in the table and didn’t do well in the cup competitions either. Now, they have been significantly weakened this summer, most notably losing both of their starting centre-backs Diego Carlos and Jules Kounde. While they’ve brought in Marcao from Galatasaray, this isn’t nearly enough to replace the departed pair. The midfield still looks strong and keeping possession has been one of Sevilla’s strengths ever since Julen Lopetegui took over as coach in 2019, but there are many other areas where they need to improve, such as the full-back positions or centre-forward. This, then, is a much weaker Sevilla squad than last year’s. Having had a poor pre-season too, even being thumped 6-0 by Arsenal, they enter the new season with a lot of doubts.

Target


Top four. Sevilla have finished inside the top four in each of Lopetegui’s first three seasons and that’ll be the target again, although it could be more difficult than ever. They only finished fourth last year and that was with a much better squad than the one they have right now.