Football Season Guide

Sion are coming off a season in which they blew a chance to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League in truly spectacular fashion. They lost the Swiss Cup final and drew three and lost one of their last four games in the league. They would have still finished 3rd and qualified for the Europa League had they not conceded an equaliser against Grasshopper in virtually the last second of their season. Given his failure to achieve the goal set for him, it was hardly surprising that Sebastien Fournier was not turned into their permanent manager. Cristian Constantin opted to replace him with Paolo Tramezzani, the man who led the Lugano side who miraculously pipped the Sitteners to 3rd. However, their summer transfer activity will definitely leave their fans feeling uneasy. Sion have not only lost more players than they have signed but have also lost some pretty key players such as Chadrac Akolo, Pa Modou, Reto Ziegler, Veroljub Salatic and Geoffrey Mujangi Bia. The Sitteners are reportedly working hard to bring in new signings but the list of arrivals is underwhelming so far. Tramezzani has already signed Eray Cumart who was on loan at Lugano in the second half of the previous season and is reportedly looking to bring in some more of his former players. Sion still have quite a decent squad but, if they do not bring in more reinforcements, it is very difficult to see them bettering last season's finish. Having said that, their tendency to bide their time during summer transfer windows is well-known and they should be expected to bring in a least three or four new players between now and the end of the month.