Football Season Guide

In the past season, Torino only seldom managed to display the bright offensive football that has been their trademark since the arrival of Giampiero Ventura at the helm of the team. The love story between the coach and the Bulls had come to an end and, not too surprisingly, he was eventually let go. And, very surprisingly, he was given Antonio Conte’s job at the head of the Italian national team. His place at Torino was taken by Mihajlovic, fresh from a poor campaign at Milan, where he was sacked with just a few more games left to play, having failed to lead his boys to the European spots. Truth be said, that was an impossible task to achieve for many a reasons. Mihajlovic, who has proven to be a valid coach both with Catania and Sampdoria in the past, will be asked to follow Ventura’s steps, by giving the team a decent play and a soul. During the summer, Torino lost two main players, captain Glik and striker Immobile. The former was let go courtesy of a good amount of cash while the latter’s loan had come to an end. The only other relevant player to have left is the 33-year-old midfielder Gazzi, who earned himself a last deal at Palermo. Unlike his predecessor, who relied on a strict 3-5-2 formation, Mihajlovic could be preferably opting for a 4-3-3 and, for such reason, the management tried to pick up players apt for this system of play. First of all, Gomis, who will be back to the team after being loaned out for some time, could be the new starter in goals with Padelli on the verge of leaving. Bruno Peres, Zappacosta, Molinaro and Avelar will still be competing for the roles as full-backs with Maksimovic, provided that he is not sold at the very last minute, and Ajeti at centre-back. Benassi, Acquah and Baselli should be the midfielders with Vives and the newcomers Tachtsidis, Gustafson and Lukic all ready to step in. Ljajic and Iago Falque will join Belotti and misfiring Martinez in the attack while Maxi Lopez could end up leaving due to the wide concurrency for a starting place.