In the first part of last season, Fiorentina looked like genuine title contenders at times or at least candidates for Champions League qualification but ultimately a lack of investment from the club in the January transfer window meant they finished 5th. Still, with European football in place, it was expected that the club would back Paulo Sosa in the summer but, once again, the Portuguese coach was left disillusioned by the club's transfer policy. He was left to work with virtually the same group of players and, almost inevitably, there was a staleness about the Viola's season overall. The positive aspect regarding a lack of transfer activity was that the manager got the chance to continue the development of some of the club's most exciting youngsters. Teenager Federico Chiesa had an excellent debut season in the first team after being promoted from the youth ranks and he looks a star for the future whilst Federico Bernardeschi further established himself as one in the present. Nikola Kalinic improved his goal tally from last season whilst Gonzalo Rodriguez and Davide Astori were mainstays at the back although they probably leaked more goals than they would have liked. That was no more evidenced than by a quite astonishing collapse in front of their home fans after being 3-0 up on aggregate to Borussia Monchengladbach in the Europa League. That was certainly the low point for the season and most likely the moment that Sosa decided he wasn't going to renew his contract at the club. He still managed to keep his side in with a shout of European qualification right up until the last couple of games of the season but that was mostly due to the two Milanese sides under-performing badly. In the end though, Fiorentina missed out on the Europa League and now face uncertain times ahead in the summer.
