Football Season Guide

In the 12 years passed since their last participation in the European competitions, Udinese failed to set their foot again in the top 10, often finding themselves fighting against relegation. The past season was an exception, though, as they finished 10th and they could have aspired for a lot more, had they been more continuous. In fact, it was immediately clear that they would have steered clear from the bottom zone, as they pulled out a remarkable win against Inter in week 2. And they repeated themselves with successes over top teams like Napoli, Roma, Atalanta and Milan in the course of the campaign. While they were capable of beating any opponents, Udinese could also drop points against the poorest sides and they never managed to build positive streaks longer than 3 games. With coach Kosta Runjaic at the helm, Udinese have been constantly growing and, in his third season in charge, they will hope to fight for a European spot again after such a long time. At the back, Udinese are about to lose centre-back Kristensen, while they did not receive any serious offer for key Solet: young Mlacic could thus be given more playing time but a new signing might be needed too. On the flanks they lost back-ups Zemura and Ehizibue. Vojvoda, coming from a great campaign at Como, could thus be contending for a start on the right while they need a back-up for Kamara, unless youngster Arizala is deemed ready for a start. In the midfield, impressive starting Atta was sold to Fiorentina and they hired Unai Gomez, mainly an attacking midfielder, from Athletic Bilbao but the coach is also asking for another alternative. In the attack, Udinese made the main move of their summer when they convinced attacking midfielder Zaniolo, 6 goals and 6 assists last season, to remain at the club, after a long and difficult negotiation. They are also in need of a more effective alternative to injury-prone striker Davis.