Zurich

It’s fair to say that FC Zurich have been somewhat sluggish in the transfer market; apparently almost being relegated as reigning champions was not enough of a wake-up call for them. They’ve lost Omeragic and Dzemaili pre-season, which are huge blows. They’ve signed Daprela to be Omeragic’s replacement; as far as the Super League goes, I have no concerns there (they’ve also got Mets back from his loan spell). However, losing Dzemaili and replacing him with nobody is just asking for trouble; he was Mr. Consistency for them last season, and they lacked control of games when he was out. Unless they do some late business, they are going to struggle in midfield this season, accentuated by the fact that key creator Marchesano may miss the start of the season due to an injury picked up in the friendly against Dietikon. Henriksen relies on FC Zurich’s midfield a lot, too. If they struggle as much as I expect them to then he may be one of the first managers to leave this season because they can ill-afford another campaign like the last. I feel for the Dane; it’s not his fault, but they need to spend more than they’ve got to replace Dzemaili; it’s that simple. This time around, there’s no FC Sion buffer either so relegation is more likely unless they prove me wrong with some artful solution or other. FC Zurich simply haven’t done enough to impress pre-season. They still don’t have a striker that they can bank on hitting double-figures, and will presumably have to rely on outcast Avdijaj more than they’d like. They don’t have the central midfield to push for Europe, and their defence is going to be under too much pressure to keep clean sheets. As much as they’ll be gunning for European football, looking at their squad as it is, they’d be lucky to avoid a relegation battle. Blame the manager, the owners, or the players as you see fit - there’s not enough cohesion nor quality in too many places in this squad. Not likely to concede many but controlling games and outscoring opposition will be tough. A predominant lack of changes should afford them the possibility of starting their campaign strongly, though - it’s up to them if they do so or not.