PESCARA HISTORY

Pescara drew plaudits and praise last season on their way to securing the Serie B championship title, but have had little time to enjoy the success. Under Zdenek Zeman’s stewardship, the Delfini powered through the Division with free-flowing, direct and attacking football, created on the pitch by a promising bunch of Italian youngsters, who also shaped Italy’s Under-21 side.

However, uncertainty is the situation that the club begins only its sixth campaign in the top flight ever. Zeman, who is widely accepted as having pioneered the team’s style of play that saw them score 27 more goals last season than any other side, has departed to Roma.

Alongside his exit has been the loss of more than one protagonist from last term. Marco Verratti has joined PSG, last season’s top scorer Ciro Immobile and his equally impressive strike partner Lorenzo Insigne are gone, as too is veteran scorer and fan favourite Marco Sansovini. The team that won promotion will have an almost completely new look to its spine when trying to stay up in the top flight.