Football Season Guide

Marseille will be back in the Champions League this season after finishing 2nd last term, and the aim will be to close the gap on European champions PSG at the summit of the table. Roberto De Zerbi’s men briefly suggested that they might launch a title challenge last term but finished the season a disappointing 19 points behind the dominant first-placed club. Although Marseille won 10 times both home and away last season, their performance level was still somewhat irregular and they certainly struggled against the very best teams in the league. Over the summer, OM look to have improved. Those players who left the club were not considered starters, and the one who did fall into this category was Luis Henrique, whose positive statistics rather belied a rather modest performance. He is certainly replaceable. Marseille appear to have recruited well, although they are open to allowing Jonathan Rowe to leave after his loan was made permanent, while Neal Maupay’s arrival represents something of a problem as he is no longer wanted. This is particularly the case given that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has signed. Igor Paixao is the headline arrival on the left to add quality to the attack, and on the face of it he should be an upgrade on Henrique. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is retained in midfield and will be joined by Angel Gomes. The defence, meanwhile, should benefit from the arrival of Facundo Medina on loan, with the Argentine international set to bring additional grinta to the team. CJ Egan-Riley has also made a positive impact after joining on a free transfer from Burnley. This Marseille side looks a rather complete unit, with no obvious points of weakness beyond several players, such as Mason Greenwood and the aforementioned Aubameyang, having questionable attitudes at times. De Zerbi has shown that he can cope with these concerns so far, although expectations are higher this time around.