Sion

As ever, there has been a large amount of changes at the club pre-season, although rather remarkably the manager was not one of them. Most of their pre-season departures were expected, and the players that have left should not be missed. Bamert’s departure was slightly surprising; he did a decent job at CB for them. Ndoye is a big loss; he was their best defensive player by far last season but Tramezzani seems to want a replacement that is more comfortable with the ball at their feet. Benito was another loss in defence, opting to return to Young Boys Bern - that’s half of their back four gone this season. Both of their most dangerous wide players - Wesley and Cipriano - have returned to their parent clubs, and neither can be replaced. The club are supposedly working on bringing them both back behind the scenes. Lindner was an excellent pre-season recruit for them. Erratic, but still their best GK in years. Poha is expected to be the deep-lying midfielder that Ndoye was never going to be able to be, and that Zuffi and Grgic have struggled to fill - both are far better further forward. With FC Sion though, little is guaranteed so always expect the unexpected. Their central midfield is well-stocked. As impressive as Stojilkovic has been up front, he’s literally their only goal-scorer, which is a mighty burden to place on his young shoulders - and it showed at times last season. Noufou was a wildcard recruit pre-season, presumably to play as his understudy; impossible to say how well he’ll do although FC Sion do have a penchant for finding gems. The problems are growing for this team though - width, attacking depth, and an unfamiliar defence could lead to a very slow start to their campaign. They’ve barely avoided relegation for several years in a row now. Big financial backing, lots of talented individuals, but seldom performs as a group. Little to no soul to the team. Likely to be in the relegation battle again, and will be relegated sooner or later unless a proper overhaul is completed, which would presumably only happen if owner Constantin left - and that doesn’t seem at all likely. If Wesley/Cipriano do not return, it’s quite possible that FC Sion will be relegated. Key players - Zuffi, Grgic, Stojilkovic, Lindner