In this SBOTOP writer’s opinion Serie A is the most competitive league in Europe…and I’m not on my own.
Long are the days since Juventus just had to turn up to win the Scudetto, and in the last three years we’ve seen three different winners. Inter Milan, AC Milan and last season’s champions Napoli will battle it out again with the Old Lady for the 2024 title, and Roma, Lazio and Atalanta are all interested too.
The summer transfer window has been relatively quiet in Italy, while business raged elsewhere but, among the big seven teams there have been some clear winners and losers, in my opinion, so let’s take a look.
Winners
Inter Milan
I Nerazzurri are the early favourites to win the Scudetto and I can see why when you look at Inter’s summer dealings. Marcelo Brozovic and Andre Onana have been shipped out for a tasty 70m Euros and in return Simone Inzaghi has brought in an impressive bunch of players. After taking over a Scudetto winning side Inzaghi has come under some pressure but he came very close to winning the Champions League last summer, losing to Manchester City in the final. But has reason to be hopeful this season.
The recruitment of Benjamin Pavard, Juan Cuadrado, Marcus Thuram, Alexis Sanchez, Yann Sommer and David Frattesi, all for a total outlay of 47m in purchases and loan fees, has turned a profit for I Nerazzurri as well as making them a good bet for silverware.
Napoli
Napoli have held on to star man Victor Osimhen and, after all the speculation surrounding a potential departure, it has been pretty big Serie A 2023 news that the Nigerian hitman has decided to stay with the reigning champions. The Partenopei have fended off advances from Bayern Munich, Manchester United and other top sides and now the Serie A 2023 betting odds are leaning back towards Naples after Osimhen has made a scoring start to the new campaign.
While winger Hirving Lozano is set to move to PSV for a 15m Euros fee, Napoli have brought in Giacomo Raspadori from Sassuolo and Jesper Lindstrom from Eintracht Frankfurt and these two quality signings make it a winning window for Napoli.
Roma
Jose Mourinho has been reunited with a former Manchester United striker as Romelu
Lukaku has transferred to Roma on loan from Chelsea. The Belgian star was on loan at Inter Milan last season but Roma swooped as this transfer window came to a close, agreeing to pay £7m in a loan fee to Chelsea who paid £97.5m for the player just two year ago.
Lukaku turned down lucrative offers from Saudi Arabia and wanted to return to Italy, and Roma needed a replacement for striker Tammy Abraham who has suffered a serious knee injury… so this is a classic win-win.
Losers
Lazio
Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri’s first objective is to make sure his team finishes above Mourinho’s to have the bragging rights in Rome and, after finishing second last season, they currently have the upper hand. But I think they will have a tough battle this time around. The loss of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Francesco Acerbi has left some big gaps in Lazio’s side and they have made a poor start to this campaign with two losses.
Sarri needs to strengthen, but the news that Lazio have been interested in signing Manchester United’s disgraced star Mason Greewood has not pleased everyone in Rome, nor indeed the head coach. The Red Devils’ star has endured two tough years with accusations of serious domestic abuse hanging over him and the Old Trafford Club has agreed to terminate his contract and make him a free agent.
He could start over again with the Biancoceleste and contact has been made with Lazio, but with forwards Valentin Castellanos and Gustav Isaksen already in Sarri is not so desperate to bring Greewood in.
It’s been an odd window for Lazio and, while they are contenders for the Scudetto, I really doubt they’ll get near second place again.
Juventus
This choice is a bit sentimental but I think a key man in the Old Lady’s halcyon days has gone; and that signals the end of a glorious era in Turin. Leonardo Bonucci has left Juventus to join Union Berlin having completed a permanent deal which means he joins the Bundesliga side on a 12 month contract.
Reports in Italy suggested that Bonucci was keen to stay with I Bianconeri, but the club is taking a new direction and the defensive rock was left out of the club’s pre-season tour of the USA. Union’s gain is Juventus’ loss I’d say.
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