After a topsy-turvy debut season in Serie A, Sassuolo are looking to just survive relegation once again.
Sassuolo
Team name: U.S. Sassuolo Calcio
City: Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna
Last season's finish: 17th
Introduction
A good way to describe Sassuolo's first-ever season in Serie A? An absolute rollercoaster ride. Managers came and went and then came back again. They had thrilling wins, frustrating losses and then beat relegation by the skin of their teeth after a late-season surge. To say Sassuolo's season wasn't interesting would be the absolute opposite of what it actually was.
But when the season ended, Sassuolo were still in Serie A -- something that might not have looked like a sure thing with a month or two remaining in the campaign. They have been able to keep their best player, Domenico Berardi, for another season, despite serious interest from the club that owns the other half of his contract, Juventus. They haven't had any serious departures to last season's squad unless you count midfielder Luca Marrone, who only played in 14 games a year ago, as one after he returned to Juventus with his contract being bought in full once again by the bianconeri.
Eusebio Di Francescio, the man who was fired and then helped Sassuolo avoid relegation, will be hoping that the combination of talented youngsters and Serie A veterans will keep them out of the bottom three once more. Sassuolo have potential to again be a pest for some of the better teams in the country, surely. That is if they can come close to replicating the kind of form they had when they finished last season and avoided the trip back to Serie B, of course.
Key player
Domenico Berardi
It must be nice to be a recently-turned 20-year-old and have the ability to completely take over a game whenever you damn well feel like it. This is the life Domenico Berardi lives, and it's a pretty good one, too. Berardi's Serie A debut at the tender age of 19 was as impressive as it could have been. Sixteen goals, six assists, three games with at least three goals scored. Pretty good, right?
Even with Juventus reportedly showing a ton of interest in bringing him to Turin this summer, Berardi essentially chose himself to stick with Sassuolo for another season because he felt comfortable in the team as his game develops. And you know they're more than happy that Italy's brightest prospect will be wearing neroverdi once more.
Key departures and arrivals
In: Šime Vrsaljko, Nicola Sansone, Federico Peluso, Jasmin Kurtić
Out: Luca Marrone, Antonio Sanabria
Reason to watch
The Berardi-Simone Zaza combination
While Zaza didn't get the hype Berardi did last season, he still proved to be a quite capable striker in his first Serie A season at the tender age of 22. But between the two of them, Berardi and Zaza combined to score 25 goals for the newly-promoted side that needed every goal it could get to stay in Italy's top flight. And one would think that with a year of Serie A experience under their belt, the two young Italian strikers would be even better in 2014-15.
Where they might finish
Potentially mid-table, but in all likelihood relegation battlers
Sassuolo has quietly had a very productive yet unspectacular summer mercato. Keeping Berardi was huge, and having him team up with Zaza for another season has the potential to be one of the more productive striker combinations in Serie A. But at the same time, Sassuolo is still a club that had to scratch and claw their way to avoid relegation a season ago.
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