Football Season Guide

When they started the past season, Hellas Verona were considered as relegation fodder and they managed to surprise everybody achieving a quiet salvation thanks to an entertaining and hyper-offensive football. In fact, they hold one main regret: had they managed to avoid collapsing once the campaign re-started following the end of the Covid-19 break, they could have achieved an historical qualification to the Europa League – they last played in Europe in 1988. Coach Juric, the architect of their successes, was tempted to leave for pastures new, especially once he found out that he would have had to deal with a completely renewed squad, but eventually accepted the new challenge and remained at the helm of the team. As previously mentioned, Juric will have to make do without several of the protagonists of the past season. In fact, the likes of Pessina, Verre, Borini, Rrahmani and, above all, Amrabat had to return to their parent clubs or were simply let go. And many other members of the past squad were shown the door too. With no less than 10 players quitting, Hellas Verona logically had to hire some valid alternatives, while not wasting too much money. So, they obtained Cetin on loan from Roma and he could very well fight for a start in the back 3 together with Magnani, arriving from Sassuolo. Gunter and Badu saw their loans turned into permanent deals. The major investment was made on Tameze, who played – little - for Atalanta in the last semester, and will be asked to replace Amrabat in the heart of the midfield and of their supporters. On the other hand, Ruegg is expected to represent an alternative to extraordinary Lazovic on the right flank. Hellas Verona are still on the hunt for a defender and a full-back, a quality midfielder and a prolific striker, as last season they scored 47 goals only, even worse than relegated Lecce.