Football Season Guide

The recent campaigns have been far from memorable for Udinese, as they have been regularly struggling for salvation and changing coaches at the speed of light. The last season was no exception to that, with coach Tudor being sacked at the end of October, and interim coach and tactician Luca Gotti leading the team until the end of the campaign almost against his own will. However, signs of improvement could be seen after the end of the Covid-19 break, as Udinese gave a hard time to many top clubs, and for once even imposed their play, rather than acting passively. Gotti was deservedly confirmed at the helm. After all, he had managed to prove that there was quality in the squad, even though they had serious problems scoring. They ended up with 37 goals, better only than SPAL and Brescia, two of the relegated sides. It is often difficult to understand what guides Udinese management during the transfer campaigns and this summer provides confirmation. Firstly, they left the defence untouched, and were wise to do so considering that Udinese kept 14 clean sheets in the past campaign, like no other Serie A team. In fact, the department will also be bolstered by the presence of experienced Prodl, now fully available after overcoming an injury. The midfield, which had been severely plagued by injuries in the last weeks of the past season, saw the departure of Fofana, a player capable of making the difference. Moreover, Mandragora is still recovering from injury and mastermind De Paul is expected to quit any time soon. Free agent Arslan is about to sign but not much else has been done in that department. More will be expected from Walace while it is unclear if talented Barak will stay on after returning from Lecce. If the midfield needs reinforcements, logic would have seen new faces also for the attack, but nothing was done, apart from signing Forestieri, returning to Friuli after a decade elsewhere. The likes of Gonzalez, Matos or Bajic, back from loans, are unlikely to remain. Right-back Molina and left-back Ouwejan arrived as a free agent and on loan respectively, and the latter will be asked to replace Sema, who did so well on the left flank but eventually returned to Watford. Udinese are still searching for free agents or loanees for the attack, the midfield and the flanks. This non-spending attitude could be dangerous, though, if they fail to sign needed players before the end of the transfer campaign as occurred in the past seasons.