Football Season Guide

Even though almost a decade has passed since their last top 10 Serie A finish, last season Udinese displayed some signs of improvement. In fact, they had a campaign split in two halves: during the first one, with coach Gotti at the helm, they were at times too erratic, often throwing points away and adopting a more defensive attitude, whilst things turned around once Gabriele Cioffi was given the reins of the team. They turned into a dominating side, capable of giving a hard time to all opponents and scoring aplenty. In fact, they scored 61 goals, their best performance since 2010/2011, 19 goals more than the previous campaign. This, despite being plagued by injuries and Covid-19 outbreaks. Cioffi, expected to remain at the club, was eventually lured away by a more substantial offer coming from Hellas Verona and so the management opted for Andrea Sottil as the new coach. With no Serie A experience as a manager, he had some successful seasons in the lower Italian leagues, in particular leading Ascoli to a bright 6th-place finish in Serie B last season. Over the summer, Udinese lost a couple of last season’s protagonists in right-back Molina, who was devastating at times (5 goals and 7 assists) and was sold to Atletico Madrid, and centre-back Marì, who was insuperable at the back once he reached form and eventually returned to his parent club, Arsenal. Pussetto, on the other hand, failed to impose himself but could be given another chance at the club since he is not wanted at Watford. Besides making permanent the loans of young stars Udogie and Beto, Udinese wisely picked up midfielder Lovric on free and then signed the likes of Buta, Ebosse, Bijol and Masina, who are all going to build depth at the back and on the flanks. Udinese are trying to resist all the offers for their stars, Deulofeu and Udogie and are also looking for a back-up striker and more some offensive-minded players.