Football Season Guide

Mediocre is the word that best defines Torino and their past season. In fact, although they were never involved in the fight against relegation, the Bulls floated in a limbo, at a long distance from the European spots. And it could not have been any different, considering that they drew 15 out of 38 games played. Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sacked in week 19 due to such drawing rates but his replacement, Walter Mazzarri did not make things any better. However, he earned himself a confirmation for the new season. It has to be said that this summer has not been a particularly busy one for Torino management. In fact, while they were not particularly active signing new players, only a couple of their starting eleven members left. First of all, the ageing Nicolas Burdisso was released after what was for him a decent campaign. Also Christian Molinaro, who hardly had any chances to play in the last year, though, due to injury, was let go. Another starter to quit was Antonio Barreca, who had been capable of becoming a protagonist at left-back: he was sold to AS Monaco for an interesting amount of money. Burdisso was immediately replaced by the newly-arrived Armando Izzo, who had an excellent season at Genoa, while Cristiano Ansaldi will become a protagonist at left-back after acting as a bit of a defensive jolly in the past campaign. The Brazilian Bremer could also be given some relevant playing time in the long run, once he has gotten used to Italian football. Torino invested some money on Soualiho Meité, a holding midfielder who could provide some cover for Tomas Rincon, who tends to spend too much time under suspension, or even find himself in a more starring role if Afriye Acquah or Joel Obi quit. The expert Antonio Rosati, arrived from Perugia, should provide some back-up for Salvatore Sirigu in the goal since Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was sent to SPAL on loan. The attack saw the arrival of Vitalie Damascan from Sheriff: the young talent does not seem likely to earn himself a starting place yet. Torino do not seem to have been particularly strengthened for the new season. If nothing else, they did not lose some players like Nicolas Nkoulou, Rincon or Mbaye Niang, whose loans were turned into permanent deals. However, according to some rumours they might end up losing Andrea Belotti. If they do so, they would be facing serious problems.