Serie A returned to our screens on August 19th, and it did so with two of the title contenders both in action on the campaign’s opening day. Reigning champions Napoli travelled to Frosinone while title favorites and beaten Champions League finalists Inter Milan hosted Monza at the San Siro. While the Italian topflight has been the most competitive in Europe in recent campaigns, it is also the poorest, and by some distance.
Despite having a number of the continent’s biggest clubs, including the aforementioned pair as well as Juventus, AC Milan, Roma, and Lazio. Last season, Italy made up three of the Champions League’s final eight, with the two Milan clubs making it all the way to the semifinals of the competition and the Nerazzurri making it to the final. However, despite that, they are still as broke as they’ve ever been.
A National Football System Stuck in the Past
The primary reason for that is a plethora of stadia that are crumbling. Only the aforementioned Juve, Frosinone, and Cagliari have stadiums built this millennium and with local councils owning the vast majority of grounds in the country, that trend doesn’t look to be ending any time soon. In fact, the local council in Milan has curtailed both AC and Inter’s hopes of demolishing the crumbling San Siro and building a new stadium by declaring that the famous old stadium is a national monument.
The result is a league void of finances and a country struggling to produce young talent. If you had been planning to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup earlier this year, you may well have been turned off when you noticed that Italy didn’t go beyond the group phase. It was even worse in the men’s game, with the Azzurri missing each of the last two tournaments, and with no youngsters coming through the ranks, Roberto Mancini has made the uncomfortable decision to walk away from his post.
Napoli Aim to Defend Their Crown
Despite Napoli’s Stadio Diego Armando Maradona being a hindrance, the Ciucciarelli have managed to consistently work wonders in the transfer market in order to remain competitive. With the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Fabián Ruiz, Allan, Simone Verdi, Roberto Inglese, Amadou Diawara, and Jorginho all being moved on for fees upwards of €20m in the last five years and players of the ilk of Min-jae Kim and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia being brought in for considerably less than that figure, the conveyor belt of talent in southern Italy has been working overtime.
The former of those two has just left for Bayern Munich for €50m, €32m of which is clean profit. The latter meanwhile is now valued at €85m barely a year after sealing a €10m move from Georgian side Dinamo Batusi. After 28 goals in 32 league appearances last term however, Victor Osimhen remains the jewel in the Napolean crown, and they have been successful in clinging on to their €120m rated striker so far this summer.
Continuing to do exactly that will be crucial to any success that Napoli has this season. The appointment of former Lyon boss Rudi Garcia was underwhelming, but the Spaniard still has plenty of talent at his disposal. His side is second favorites for a reason, and if he can get the best out of his talented young squad just as Lucian Spalletti did last season, it would take a brave punter to bet against them defending the Scudetto this season.
The Chasing Pack
Should Napoli be successful in their defense, they will end the recent game of hot potato which has seen Serie A won by four different winners in the last four years. Prior to the current champions claiming the crown it was AC Milan who ended 11 years of hurt, and they will be hoping to be competitive once more this season. They reached the Champions League semifinals against all odds last term, and with the likes of Christian Pulisic, Samuel Chukwueze, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tijjani Reijnders, and Noah Okafor all joining this summer, they could push Napoli all the way.
The Rossoneri’s cross-city rivals Inter are the favorite for the crown and they won the lot the year before their rivals’ success. They had a successful campaign last season, winning both the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup, as well as reaching the Champions League final. They will be hoping for a similarly successful campaign.
The reason those three have been able to trade the title between each other is that Juventus have fallen off a cliff in recent seasons. Between 2011 and 2020 they won Serie A nine consecutive times. Last season however, they were embroiled in the biggest scandal since Calciopoli – which they were also at the center of – which saw their entire board of directors resign. Max Allegri has built a talented young squad in Turin, and had it not been for a points deduction last season, they’d have finished second. Can they go one better and return to their previously dominant ways once more?