Football Season Guide

Reims are back in Europe this season after head coach David Guion led his side to a remarkable sixth-placed finish last term. While they were expected to establish themselves in the heart of the table, they completely outstripped expectations as they performed so well, particularly with star man Arber Zenali out for the duration of the campaign with a serious knee injury. This summer, they have sought to strengthen their squad in a bid to compete on two fronts, though that will be difficult. They have lost two starting defenders in the form of Axel Disasi and Hassane Kamara, which is problematic as the rearguard was the foundation for their success previously. To date, only the left-back area has been strengthened, with young Belgian Thibault De Smet arriving. Reims, though, have a good success rate in recent years signing players from Belgium. Goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic was outstanding last term and will have to be again this time around behind what appears a weakened defence. Meanwhile, the board have elected to invest in the squad and have signed Valon Berisha from Lazio – a deal seen as a sign of intent. He will be the leader of the midfield, with Xavier Chavalerin the likely other starter. Otherwise, it is Reims’ attacking options where money has been invested, with Stathis Donis a surprising addition from Stuttgart given his mediocre past in Ligue 1, and Fraser Hornby arriving from Everton and showing encouraging signs in pre-season. There are plenty of good attacking options in Reims’ ranks, especially in the attacking midfield slots, with the likes of Mathieu Cafaro and Zeneli already on their books. Kaj Sierhuis was signed in January in a bid to provide an answer to their inconsistency at centre-forward but the Dutchman got injured straight away and has yet to show what he can do. Boulaye Dia and Elhadj Dabo both get goals but tend to play well only in patches – a symptom of their youth.