Football Season Guide

After a relatively disappointing 2018-19 campaign, in which there was a sentiment of underachievement, Lyon will begin a new era, with new faces at the top and new leaders on the field. At boardroom level, Juninho has been appointed as the director of football and has appointed former Brazil assistant boss Sylvinho into the head coach role – the first he has occupied at club level. On the field, meanwhile, Lyon have once again turned in a big profit on the transfer market, selling three undisputed starters in the form of Tanguy Ndombele, Ferland Mendy and Nabil Fekir – the latter going surprisingly to Betis for a relatively paltry €20m. It has been the sale of Ndombele that has really funded OL’s summer, with centre-back Joachim Andersen, midfielders Thiago Mendes and Jean Lucas and left-back Youssouf Kone the major arrivals to bolster the first team. Ciprian Tatarusanu, who impressed with Nantes, has arrived to provide competition in goal – perhaps even a long-term replacement to Anthony Lopes, whose contract is up next summer. Lyon’s challenge last season was a lack of consistency rather than any dearth of quality, and that will be what they have to overcome this time around. This was particularly evident in the defence, where Andersen is expected to plug a gap in its centre along with Jason Denayer. They will switch to a 4-3-3 formation under Sylvinho and are expected to play in a style influence by Tite’s Brazil side. That means they will likely play at a high intensity and with a significant press. For that reason, releasing Fekir, who is a natural No.10, was a move that made sense. As such, this is Houssem Aouar’s time to shine. In attack, there is no lack of quality, with Memphis Depay, Maxwel Cornet, Martin Terrier, who may start slowly due to pre-season fitness issues, and Bertrand Traore likely to be vying for the wide roles. Moussa Dembele is their best goal scorer but has struggled to hold down a starting berth in the year he has been at the club, though after scoring twice in a recent friendly win over Arsenal has a key role to play.