Football Season Guide

In their first campaign in Serie A, Spezia managed to survive. They often played positive football thanks to coach Italiano who was also the architect of their promotion from Serie B. The club's new American owners wanted to continue with Italiano, but he rejected the offer once he saw the opportunity of working at a bigger club in Fiorentina. Spezia made a rather unusual choice, entrusting the team to Thiago Motta. The former PSG midfielder has very limited experience as head coach. In 2019 he was in charge at Genoa, a spell characterised by just 1 win in 9 games. Operating on a tight budget, Spezia had built a squad for their Serie A debut thanks to loan deals from bigger clubs. With the new management, major investments are expected but, unfortunately for them, a whole exodus of players occurred during the summer. Basically, the whole defence left together with important players from the midfield and the attack. Players like Marchizza, Chabot, Ricci, Pobega, Agudelo and Galabinov will all be missed. Incoming transfers have been limited. Amian could become a protagonist at right-back with Nikolau strengthening a depleted heart of the defence. On the other hand, Kovalenko and Colley, both arriving from Atalanta, could win starting berths in the midfield and in the attack respectively. Zoet, who spent part of the past season sidelined, could be start in goal, preferred to Provedel. At the moment, Spezia are still looking for players across the pitch. In particular, the attack is in need of strengthening, not least because N'Zola was frozen out of the squad and could be sold.