Football Season Guide

From around springtime, Sevilla knew that they were likely to lose Jorge Sampaoli as their coach – and so it proved. The Argentinean left at the end of last season to take on his country's national team job and fans in the Andalusian city had to wave goodbye to one of the most exciting and effective coaches they’d had. At the same time, they bid farewell to Monchi, their sporting director of 17 years, who was taking on a new challenge at Roma. This summer, then, has been one of change at Sevilla and it remains to be seen whether all of the movement in the boardroom, the dugout and the squad will even out to make them a better or worse team in 2017/18. In the boardroom, the sporting department are hoping to have unearthed some gems, just as Monchi did for so many years. The likes of Guido Pizarro, Sebastien Corchia, Ever Banega and Manchester City wantaways Nolito and Jesus Navas have all come in for under £10m, while a little more was splashed out for Luis Muriel and Simon Kjaer. By spreading their budget – and, therefore, their risk – there will surely be a few of these signings which work out splendidly. There have also, though, been some notable departures, as there are every year at Sevilla. The most significant loss was that of Spain international Vitolo, who had his release clause activated by Atletico Madrid just when it seemed he was going to renew. Also leaving is captain Vicente Iborra which could prove to be more significant than it first seems. Meanwhile, last year's loan signings Luciano Vietto, Matías Kranevitter, Stevan Jovetic and Samir Nasri all returned to their parent clubs. As for the change in the dugout, Sevilla hired Eduardo Berizzo, the former Celta Vigo coach who is tactically similar to Sampaoli in the sense that he too craves attacking and free-flowing football whilst demonstrating formational flexibility in achieving it. Perhaps this "Sampaoli-lite" version will be less effective but it might equally be a positive to have a coach willing to compromise a little bit more.