Fledgling manager Roberto di Lazaró had guided Sampdoria to a 10th place finish in Serie A in 2021/22. However, that had largely been inspired by the goals of a 19-year-old striker so much work was needed in the summer transfer window to strengthen the squad.
Sampdoria had made a solid yet wholly unspectacular start to life with Roberto di Lazaró, sitting firmly in mid-table and struggling to score goals heading into 2022.
The Sampdoria reign of fledgling Italian manager Roberto di Lazaró had begun fairly quietly, with a relatively pleasing opening day defeat at Atalanta backed up with a win over Salernitana and the sole addition of hot prospect defender Anel Ahmedhozdic.
The wonderful world of Football Manager Beta brings us back to Italy for the second season in a row. This time around, FM22 sees us take the reins at Sampdoria, for no particular reason other than I fancied the challenge.
I wrote one of these blogs last year so I figured, with Football Manager 22 around the corner, I'd do the same again this year. Mainly because I'm really excited about the challenge I've come up with for this year's game.
Now that we know the full version of Football Manager 2022 will be released on 9 November, it's time for all of us to start casting our minds to the future and where we want to spend the next 12 months of virtual management.
Heading into 2032, Cagliari Calcio were being well and truly carried into the top half of Serie A by the goals of star striker Thomas De Lucia. The Italian, our newly appointed vice-captain, had scored more than half of our goals.
We moved into 2032 celebrating youth product Matteo Giacalone becoming the first Atalanta player in history to win World Player of the Year and World Golden Ball awards.
Back in 2000, the likes of Fausto Rossini, Fabio Rustico and Cristiano Doni made Atalanta an exciting Championship Manager prospect. 18 years later, our new FM Series will see how their new compatriots stack up in comparison.
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