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The biggest indicator of a future great team is its continuous improvement. The past two years have seen new teams emerge from behind the shadows of big and established clubs and announce themselves to the world of football. They challenged the hierarchy on the field and even in the transfer market. While success cannot be assured in the future for these teams, there is an indication that there is certainly more to come. We hope that these teams do not wither and continue to challenge the might of Europe.
1. Paris Saint Germain( France ):
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Sports businessman Nasser Al-Khelaifi bought Paris Saint Germain and became the club’s president in October 2011. He put his money into the team and he fended off competition from other European superpowers to sign Javier Pastore, Salvatore Sirigu, Jeremy Menez and Kevin Gameiro in his first summer in charge. He kept faith in the old guard and assembled a coaching staff of Paolo Maldini and Leonardo. He replaced long term servant Antoine Kambouare with a champion Carlo Ancelotti. The results have been fruitful. They sit in second place trailing Montpellier by a point and are ahead of the usual suspects Lyon and Marseille by a big margin. With the club linked to Luis Suarez, Carlos Tevez and a host of world class footballers, it seriously is not long before PSG come knocking and challenge the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
2. Athletic Bilbao (Spain):
Marcelo Bielsa has changed Bilbao's fortunes
While Bilbao have taken the Europa League by storm, it is evident that like Rome was not built in a day, Bilbao was not built in a short time. Bilbao were struggling in the 2008-2009 season and just managed to survive the relegation mayhem. Injuries to key players next season meant that several players of the B team had to be brought into the senior squad. This faith in the young stars of the B team paid off. Teenagers like Borja Ekiza, Jon Aurtenetxe, Iker Muniain and Javi Martinez combined with the efforts of experienced players like Fernado Llorente and Gaizka Toquero meant that Athletic finished eight, just shy of a Europa league spot. Athletic carried this momentum into next season and finished sixth with an excellent home record in the league.
The start of the 2011-2012 season saw former Bilbao player, Jose Urrutia win the presidential election. He kept his election promise and brought in Marcelo Bielsa, as coach. Bielsa was well respected in the football community and was coming back from an impressive showing of his Chile side in the World Cup and the Copa America. Athletic were also buoyed by the performances of Ander Herrera and Iker Muniain in the Under-21 European Championships in the summer of 2011. Thankfully for Athletic , these two players along with Ander Itturaspe, Oscar De Marcos and Fernando Llorente carried on their form to this season. Biesla made his side play attractive football. He would find faults even in a comfortable victory and comfort the players when they lost. His team took Manchester United by storm, teaching the English giants a lesson in football. Now with the world watching their ascendancy in European football, Bielsa has a tough job to keep his stars at the club.
Bilbao are no strangers to success. They remain one of four teams who have never been relegated from the top division in Spain. If they keep their style and star players , they can easily make a dynasty.
3. Borussia Dortmund(Germany):
Jurgen Klopp turned things around for BVB Dortmund.
After their “golden era” in the ’90s, Borussia Dortmund slipped from Bundesliga‘s summit, seemingly beyond repair. They were declared bankrupt in 2005, had their worst ever season in 2007. Then enters Jurgen Klopp. The young dynamic manager led Dortmund to recovery. In his first season, he managed to qualify for the UEFA cup. Encouraged by his success, more investors came in and Dortmund are in a stable position again. Jurgen klopp trusted in his youth system and gave chances to the younger generation of Mat Hummels, Neven Subotic, Mario Gotze, Shinji Kagawa, Kevin Grosskreutz, Nuri Sahin and Lucas Barrios. These individuals challenged the might of Bayern Munich and won the Bundesliga last season. As expected, the big teams came knocking and they lost Nuri Sahin, a key player in their title winning squad to Real Madrid. However, this season did not particularly start well for the German club.
After elimination in the Champions League and poor results in the league at the start of the season, football fans began to call this side as “One time wonders”. They also lost Mario Gotze to injury. But Dortmund soon recovered and after a record string of victories, Dortmund are now back to the summit of the German Bundesliga.
With budding superstars like Mario Gotze, Kevin Grosskreutz, Ilkay Gundogan , Shinji Kagawa and with the recent signing of Marco Reus, Borussia Dortmund can be expected to do better next year in the Champions League. Jurgen Klopp is also probably the safest bet to build an era for the club.
4)S.S.C Napoli (Italy):
Aurelio De Laurentiis saved Napoli from obscurity.
Napoli showed Europe how to truly build a great team. Five or six years ago, Napoli were in the third tier of Italian Football, bankrupt and with lesser known players. Enter Aurelio De Laurentiis, a film producer. He took over Napoli, drew a five year plan which included promotion back to the Serie A. Napoli finished third in Serie C in his first season as club president and lost in the play-offs. But there was a new hope within the club. Back to back promotions were achieved. Napoli were once again a Serie-A team. Napoli president signed Ezezquiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik in preparation for their first season in the first division. They finished 10th that season but Hamsik and Lavezzi were already successful signings.
This was just the beginning. Napoli qualified for the Europa League next season due to the brilliance of Fabio Quagliarella. He was sold next season, much to the discontent of Napoli fans. De Laurentiis signed Edinson Cavani to replace Fabio but Napoli fans booed him in his first game. Cavani scored two on his debut and scored a marvellous 33 goals to help Napoli qualify for the Champions League. ” The Holy Trinity Of Europe”- Lavezzi, Hamsik, Cavani took Europe by storm as they went past cash rich Manchester City and reached the Round of 16 of the Champions League, narrowly losing to Chelsea.
Cavani, Hamsik and Lavezzi’s Napoli have brought back the glory of the ” Maradona” days. Some pundits even believe that this side is better than Diego’s side. If Napoli can keep the ” Holy Trinity ” and make it to the Champions League, their prospects are exciting. With another star, a certain Eduardo Vargas, coming up their ranks, many believe the holy trinity could become the Holy quadruple.
5. AS Roma ( Italy):
Luis Enrique's troops have played scintillating football but remain inconsistent.
AS Roma have always been one of the elite clubs in Italy. They might not be as successful as the Big three in Italy, but they have welded a place in Italian football for themselves. But the success of 2001 still awaits their fans. AS Roma put up a string of performances in the Champions League but none of them were good enough. This season, AS Roma went through a lot of changes. They brought in Luis Enrique who had successfully managed Barcelona B. Roma signed seasoned stars like Pablo Osvaldo, Fernando Gago, Gabriel Heinze and signed younger prospects like Eric Lamela, Miralem Pjanic, Fabio Borini and Bojan Krkic. While club captain Francesco Totti continued to play a key role along with Danielle de Rossi.
Roma started playing football based on possession and quick passing. These ideals were brought in by club manager Luis Enrique. Roma are inconsistent but remain close to the Champions League spots. Roma are believed to play the most beautiful football in Italy but have lacked the killer instinct of top sides.
The most encouraging news for AS Roma fans has been the success of the AS Roma Primavera side. Many players of that Roma side are considered to be future stars. The Primavera lifted the youth Coppa Italia beating Juventus 2-1 on aggregate. The last time they did that was 18 years ago, a team buoyed by a certain Francesco Totti. Upcoming stars like Federico Viviani, and Stefano Sabelli could be key for Roma in the future. The team also finished runner up in Viareggio cup, losing to Juventus in the final.
