Football Season Guide

After suffering relegation to the Serie B in the 2016-2017 campaign, Empoli made it all the way back to the Serie A at the first time of asking. Having started their campaign with Vincenzo Vivarini at the helm, they actually spent just two weeks at the top between August and February and, once the management opted for a change in week 20, Aurelio Andreazzoli became the new coach. Their ride turned into a triumphal one as they reached the top again in week 27 and ended up the undisputable leaders with a 13-point advantage over second-placed Parma following a 19-game undefeated run. At 65, Andreazzoli has had a rather long career as coach in the lower leagues and, most of all, as coach assistant in Serie A. In particular, he worked at Udinese with Luciano Spalletti and at Roma with the Tuscan coach himself and Zdenek Zeman, Luis Enrique and Rudy Garcia. While with the Wolves, he led the team for a few months following Zeman’s sacking and he brought them to a 6th place finish and a Coppa Italia final. He usually opts for a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-1-2 formation, which had become the trademarks for the Tuscan side with Maurizio Sarri, Marco Giampaolo and Giovanni Martusciello at the helm. During the summer Empoli lost some of the protagonists of the past glorious campaign. Gabriel, Sebastiano Luperto, Michele Castagnetti and Nikola Ninkovic all had to return to their parent clubs as their loans expired while Alfredp Donnarumma, who formed a perfect partnership with Francesco Caputo in the attack, was sold to Brescia. Empoli thus saw a few players returning after being loaned out in the past season: the likes of Marcel Buchel, Simone Romagnoli and Davide Bittante should all provide some depth in the squad. On the other hand, the promising Antonino La Gumina, arriving from Palermo, should become Caputo’s new partner in the attack while Andrea Fulignati could represent more than an alternative to Ivan Provedel in the goal. The feeling is that Empoli are still lacking quality both in defence and in the middle of the park, plus some experienced man for the attack.