Football Season Guide

Despite a top-6 finish, 2019 was a very disappointing season for São Paulo, as expectations were very high due to some heavy names signed in the beginning of the season (Pato, Dani Alves, Hernanes...). Paulistas were never close to the level the fans were demanding. Fernando Diniz is an exciting new manager, but is still considered to employ a style that more often than advised expose his teams' defensive line too much. Fans are hoping Diniz to correct that part on his game and bring a more balanced style this year. A very quiet market this year, as São Paulo only focused on getting two players back from loan (some expectation on flamboyant Shaylon), and signing definite contracts with players like Volpi, Bueno and Igor Vinícius, who were only on loan last season. Only Antony won't be around in 2020 league, as he signed with Ajax from Netherlands. Paulistas will therefore have almost the same squad as last year. The hopes are that what went wrong in 2019 will be corrected this time around. In a way, striker Pablo can be considered a "great new signing" as he recovered from a severe injury, and has been on hot goalscoring form in Paulistão in 2020. With Pablo on the pitch, Pato will be taken off from the responsability of scoring and may be performing better this time around. Also, there are hopes that the many young talents will have their affirmation year: Luan, Liziero, Antony, Toró and Igor Gomes.