Football Season Guide

For Amiens, without coach Pellissier they ended a 3-year tenure in the Ligue 1. While the process of their relegation was certainly accelerated by the early end of the season due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they did not seem capable at all of pushing for a last-minute salvation after dropping to the bottom 2 in week 22. In fact, while they were hard to beat, they ended up recording 11 draws, they simply stopped winning by early November. Nevertheless, despite such a crushing blow, coach Luka Elsner was confirmed at the helm of the team. If their winter and springtime were disastrous, Amiens summer does seem to be an even less promising one. They already lost 14 players during the transfer campaign, and more are likely to depart as some aim at playing in a more prestigious League than the Ligue 2, and only few new players were signed, most of them returning from loans elsewhere. The coach is longing for 7-8 new players: the situation is particularly dramatic at the back as the whole defence departed, Aleesami, Calabresi, Dibassy and Lefort either left or returned to their parent clubs, Bodmer and Jallet retired and Chedjou is considering a move elsewhere. If no experienced players are signed ahead of the start of the campaign, Elsner might have to field 4 junior defenders. On top of that, they also lost Kakuta and Diabaté, their top assist-men, with 5 and 3 respectively. Timite, returning from Paris FC, and promising Papeau could represent a valid alternative for them but the latter hardly ever played at Chambly in the past campaign. Last but not least, with captain and regular goalkeeper Gurtner injured for the start of the new season, Thuram was signed in from Le Mans. While he has not been playing since September, Thuram accounted for 44 clean sheets in 144 Ligue 2 games overall. Amiens are still a work in progress and several new faces are expected to arrive by the end of the week.