Football Season Guide

In the past three years, Udinese abjured their policy of acquiring unknown youths in order to turn them into future stars and ended up signing more seasoned and, sometimes, listless or worn out players. This, together with an array of wrong coaches including Andrea Stramaccioni, Stefano Colantuono and Beppe Iachini, did not leave any positive marks. The arrival of coach Luigi Delneri at some point in the past season brought an improvement both in terms of play and results. He was capable of giving the team a soul they did not have since Guidolin's departure but it also lead to the adoption of a different policy over the current summer transfer campaign. For instance, for the first time in years, Udinese invested in Italian players and, once again, on some promising youths from all over the world who were chosen in order to give the coach at least two men for each role. First of all, Udinese fans saw the departure of a few regulars. Duvan Zapata's 2-year-loan from Napoli came to an end. Dabelo Felipe, wanted a longer deal given his age and SPAL provided it. Emmanuel Badu, who needed a change after 6 years with the Zebras, also left and Sven Kums, who failed to impress despite a glorious pedigree, departed too. More regulars and fringe players are expected to quit before the end of August too. Orestis Karnezis and Ali Adnan already have their bags packed. Delneri is likely to adopt his beloved 4-4-2 formation which could easily turn into a 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 system of play thanks to the characteristics of his boys. This way, there will be no more talks of a back three which had been the trademark for Udinese in the past 20 years since Alberto Zaccheroni's days. The former hot prospect, Simone Scuffet, who had been real close to becoming a star at 17 but eventually missed the train, will be given his first chance as a regular in Serie A with the experienced Albano Bizzarri ready to step in if needed. Pre-season made it clear that the Italian international is not at his best yet especially when passing with his feet. Silvan Widmer, unless he is sold at the very last moment, will still act at right-back but his defending is quite questionable. Samir, who is recovering from a serious injury and could also play in the heart of the defence, should be placed on the left, with Giuseppe Pezzella, a wise signing from Palermo, as his gifted alternative. Danilo and Gabriele Angella will be contending with Bram Nuytinck, a solid Dutchman who arrived from Anderlecht. Pawel Bochniewicz or Molla Wague are the other centre-backs. In the midfield, Delneri will be spoilt for choice - the talented Andrija Balić , Seko Fofana, who is recovering from a long-lasting injury, the experienced Emil Halfredsson and the promising Barak Barak could all be fighting for the starting places while Rodrigo De Paul and Jakub Jankto should play on the flanks. The 19-year-old Svante Ingelsson, coming from Kalmar, had an excellent pre-season and could be given some playing time too. The attack, devoid of Zapata, will still see Cyril Thereau as a protagonist but he is set to lose his starting spot with the passing of time as Stipe Perica is going to be missing for a month through injury but is expected to return to lead the line. Kevin Lasagna and the rather unknown Riad Bajic, who did wonders at Konyaspor, will be trying to gain Delneri’s approval. The hyper-talented Ewandro is also longing for a few chances on the pitch. Udinese are still missing one right-back, who could replace Widmer or even allow the Swiss to act as a winger, his preferred role. They are also lacking some muscle in the middle of the park and an alternative winger. If they manage to sign those players before the end of August, they could really become an exciting team to watch.