Football Season Guide

It's prudent to be wary with FC Sion because this is a club that frequently promises yet seldom delivers. After all, this is the same club that brought Mario Balotelli to Switzerland, for example. Most recently they brought Patjim Kasami 'home' and that ended disastrously too, cut loose in the summer despite being very capable. However, it's fair to say that FC Sion have been the most exciting team in Switzerland in the transfer market this season. Last season they lacked that bit of dynamism in the final third, hence continual rotations to find solutions. Well, with Sorgic having left, it freed up a space in their squad. In typical FC Sion fashion, they opted to replace their one departed player with four players. Winger Lukembila did well in spells on loan at FC Winterthur last season; he should help give them what they lack. They also added wildcard Chouik from AC Bellinzona - very capable in the division below but untested at this level. They also signed wonderkid Boteli and ex-Atalanta Bergamo striker Niovkazi in a bid to seriously strengthen their offensive power - and they have done so. They've done some good work elsewhere too, making Hajrizi's loan move into a permanent transfer. They've added Racioppi and Ruberto to strengthen their options in goal too, given Lindner's departure and the potential departure of Fayulu to FC Basel. They're all good moves for the club in the big picture though. LB/LWB should be their main focus though. A little surprisingly, Italian defender Barba moved on. They made it clear that Hefti wasn't up to par there, and Cipriano isn't consistent enough. It's a problem area for them, and they're not really good enough to casually get by with such issues, especially unless they intend on bolstering their CDM stocks. They'll want the title, as always, but it's been many moons since they could even claim to have been legitimately close to doing so. On the quiet, they'd be happy to avoid the relegation battle, and will obviously have hopes of making it into Europe. It's a good team with the potential to implode at any given moment.