Football Season Guide

After 2 8th-place finishes under De Zerbi, last season Sassuolo had to content themselves with a less remarkable 11th place in what was the debut in Serie A for coach Alessio Dionisi. The former Empoli gaffer followed the steps of his predecessors as his boys offered at times an impressively offensive football, but they were also too inconsistent, especially due to a particularly leaky defence. In fact, they scored 64 goals but, quite astonishingly, conceded 66 goals, thus holding the 15th defence of the league, keeping only 3 clean sheets all season. Having a squad full of talents, Sassuolo tend to attract offers from bigger clubs with every new tranfer campaign and this summer was not an exception. Centre-forward Scamacca, 16 goals last season, was hired by West Ham for big money. The management thus spent a small part of this money for Alvarez, a 21-year-old striker who made his name at Penarol, scoring 33 goals in 69 games, but still has to prove himself in European football. Centre-back Chiriches was let go to promoted Cremonese but Sassuolo should have his replacement already in Ayhan, still-immature Ruan or just-arrived Erlic, who did well at Spezia. As for attacking midfielder Djuricic, yet another sometime starter to have quit, he could be replaced by Thorsvedt, coming from Racing Genk. Moreover, left-back Marchizza returned after a loan at Empoli and could be considered as an alternative to Kyriakopoulos and Rogerio. Sassuolo are still looking for alternatives to holding midfielders Frattesi and Lopez, with the former requested by Roma, for a centre-forward and more wingers, which means that more players could still be packing their bags. Attacking midfielder Raspadori, 10 goals and 6 assists, could be the next one leaving, while right winger Berardi, 15 goals and 17 assists, who is always rumoured to be moving, might be staying after all.