Football Season Guide

VFB Stuttgart

In


Chris Fuhrich (mid) SC Paderborn; Florian Muller (gk) FSV Mainz; Naouirou Ahamada (mid) Juventus; Hiroki Ito (def) Jubilo Iwata - on loan; Omer Beyaz (mid) Fenerbahce; Alou Koul (att) Central Coast; Nikolas Nartey (mid) SV Sandhausen - end of loan;

Out


Nicolas Gonzalez (k) (att) Fiorentina; Gregor Kobel (r) (gk) Borussia Dortmund; Marcin Kaminski (sp) (def) Schalke; Maxime Awoudja (def) WSG Tirol - on loan; Antonis Aidonis (sp) (def) Dynamo Dresden - on loan; Gonzalo Castro (r) (mid) released; Pablo Maffeo (mid) RCD Mallorca - on loan; Jens Grahl (sp) (gk) Eintracht Frankfurt;

Stuttgart more than held their own last season, despite only gaining promotion in the previous campaign. They played some entertaining football and eventually finished a comfortable mid-table. Coach Matarazzo will be hoping to push his project on further this season as he begins his second full season in charge. The Italian/American has done a good job since taking over in 2019 and has helped stabilise the club after a difficult spell. There hasn't been a huge amount of activity in the transfer market for Stuttgart but they have moved quickly to replace goalkeeper Kobel, who left to join Dortmund. Muller, who had a decent spell on loan at Freiburg last season, should be first choice ahead of Bredlow for the coming season. They have also brought in Fuhrich from Paderborn, the winger impressed in the second tier last season and will be hoping to improve further under the guidance of Matarazzo. Argentinian forward Gonzalez has also moved on, joining Fiorentina, this will be a loss to the side but they coped admirably without him through injury a lot of last season, so you expect them to be ok again. Stuttgart are unlikely to change their approach this season, sticking to their attacking style, regardless of the opposition, this could of course leave them exposed at times but expect them to be strong on the counter-attack once more. There is a lot of young talent in the side and Matarazzo will not be afraid to put them on the front line, naivety and managing games could be a problem though.

Target


Europe. There is no reason why Stuttgart can't go to the next level this campaign, a good start will be pivotal in which way their season could go but gaining a European place can't be ruled out.