Football Season Guide

Returning to the Serie A after a 3-year-long absence, Parma needed time in order to adapt to top flight football again. In fact, while they were bright and entertaining, they regularly threw wins away in the game finales. Having fallen in the bottom 3 at the end of a disastrous 7-game winless run, at the beginning of February, the management decided to part ways with Fabio Pecchia and replaced him with Christian Chivu, who only had experience as Inter Primavera coach. Surprisingly enough, Parma turned into a more solid side almost immediately, they lost only 3 out of the final 13 games, holding both Scudetto contenders, Napoli and Inter, to draws. And thus they reached salvation with a 16th-place finish. Chivu decided to quit after receiving an offer from Inter and Parma made a risky move, handing the reins of the team to 30-year-old Carlos Cuesta, at his first experience as head coach and in Serie A. Just like his predecessors, he should field an aggressive 3-4-2-1 formation. Parma have not been very active yet in the transfer campaign, despite losing some of their most valuable offensive players. At the back, back-up centre-back Vogliacco returned to his parent club and Osorio was released while Ndiaye arrived from Troyes and could be handed a starting spot, especially if impressive 17-year-old Leoni ends up elsewhere. The midfield lost starting Sohm, who left for Fiorentina, and new signings 20-year-old Ordonez, coming from Velez Sarsfield, and Sorensen could become protagonists, especially considering that they lack depth in the department. However, the attack is the area where they changed the most with key striker Bonny gone, together with key winger Man and starting Mihaila. Pellegrino will thus be promoted as their starting striker for good, after impressing in the second part of the last campaign, with Sits as his deputy after doing well in the Netherlands. On the wings, Almqvist is also set to turn into a protagonist, while more signigns are needed, considering that also Cancellieri left, returning to his parent club.