Football Season Guide

Since their return to the Serie A in 2023/2024, Cagliari have been constantly progressing and the past campaign was no exception. In fact, they started the season surprisingly well, losing only 1 of the initial 4 games, but then they faced a crisis, going winless between weeks 5 and 13. The following months were characterised by the lack of consistency as they went on alternating positive and negative results, but they always pulled out wins when absolutely needed. Capable of beating any opponents, Roma, Milan, Atalanta and Juventus all suffered defeats to them, Cagliari never really fell in the relegation spots and eventually finished their campaign on the 14th spot, 9 points above the bottom 3. Rather fragile defensively and rather poor offensively, last season Cagliari heavily relied on their home performances. Coach Fabio Pisacane, often criticised for his lack of experience, earned himself a confirmation at the helm of the team also in the new campaign. He will have to deal with a rather renewed squad, though, since several starters left over the summer. The main loss is certainly represented by Palestra’s return to his parent club. The right-back literally tore opponents apart and a like-for-like replacement could not be found. Ze Pedro or Zappa could thus become a steady starter but they are more defensive than the new Chelsea player is. At the back, they also lost starting centre-back Dossena, whose loan also expired, but Rodriguez is now ready to become a protagonist. Another centre-back is also needed considering that Mina is rather injury-prone. The midfield is the department which changed the most this summer with Folorunsho, Gaetano and Mazzitelli all gone. In came 2 youngsters like Romano and Fazzini while Winks should bring the needed experience and Prati is also back from a forgettable experience at Torino. Up-front, they lost Belotti, Pavoletti and Kilicsoy, thus now they need to add depth to the bench, together with Maldini, but, most importantly, they retained Esposito, their star with 8 goals and 6 assists.