Football Season Guide

Last season, with Alberto Gilardino at the helm, Genoa seemed to be heading for the fall. Having won only 2 out of the initial 12 games, they eventually opted for a change, surprisingly enough after two positive results, and thus Patrick Vieira became the new coach. Things immediately got going under the new man in charge and they succeeded sealing to safe shores. They even looked capable of making the top 10, a result they failed to achieve over the last decade, but they eventually lost steam in the last 7 weeks and contented themselves with the 13th place. While they were rather solid defensively, Genoa desplayed huge offensive problems, also due to an array of injuries that plagued their attacking players. The defence will look different this season, though. In fact, they lost key centre-back Bani together with starting centre-back De Winter, who left for Milan, and back-up centre-back/left-back Matturro was loaned out. Vogliacco and Marcandalli returned from loans and Ostigard arrived from Rennes: they could all earn playing time but a potential starter is still needed. Young left-back Ahanor was also sold for good money. Aging key midfielder Badelj was released while Kassa and Onana returned to their parent clubs after leaving no mark. In came only Bohinen and Ellertsson, after being loaned out, and this is also an area they need to build some depth in. Miretti, another midfielder who mostly played in a winger role, though, returned to Juventus, while Zanoli returned to Napoli. A whole new set of attacking midfielders arrived, Gronbaek, Stanciu and Carboni, with the last 2 set to become protagonists in the new season, while Junior Messias and Malinovskyi are expected to be luckier than last season when they were injured longtime. Last but not least, Genoa lost their top – and sole - scorer Pinamonti, who is back at Sassuolo after scoring 11 goals, and they will replace him with one between Vitinha and Colombo, who had a mixed experience at Empoli.