Football Season Guide

After 3 anonymous campaigns, spent trying to avoid relegation, with the arrival of coach Italiano at the helm Fiorentina have at last returned among the protagonists of Italian football. Thanks to an often spectacular football, the Viola made it back to the European competitions and they even got close to winning some silverware. To tell the truth, the past season finale will be remembered bitterly as they lost both finals for the Coppa Italia and the Conference League but they were eventually offered a sweetener by the UEFA once they were admitted to the 3rd main European competition following Juventus disqualification. The transfer campaign has been rather quiet for Fiorentina so far as they only saw the departure of one major player in starting centre-back Igor. Mina, who arrived on a free, should thus become the alternative to Milenkovic and Martinez Quarta in the heart of the defence. Together with the Brazilian, Fiorentina let go both back-up full-backs, Venuti and Terzic, who left no real mark on the past season, aging back-up goalie Sirigu, who suffered a major knee injury, and inconsistent winger/attacking midfielder Saponara. None of them was actually replaced yet. In terms of new signings, attacking midfielder/midfielder Sabiri and midfielder Arthur will have to prove their real value after forgettable seasons at Sampdoria and Liverpool respectively. On the other hand, Infantino represents an investment for the future. According to the rumours, the attack is an area which is going to face major changes over the next weeks with Cabral set to leave and Beltran set to arrive from River Plate. Fiorentina need to strengthen all the departments if they aim at repeating the wonders displayed last season in all the competitions.