The faces are familiar, but the places are all jumbled up. To preview this Serie A season feels like having a gossipy catchup with friends who lost track of each other’s lives.
Remember how Thiago Motta swept Bologna off to Europe? Oh, that’s over: he’s with Juventus now. So Bologna got together with Vincenzo Italiano, after he left Fiorentina. They turned to Raffaele Palladino but that left Monza with nobody, until, of all people, Alessandro Nesta shows up on the scene. Please, we haven’t even got to the juicy part. Antonio Conte, he’s back. And get this, he’s with Napoli.
We could go on. Thirteen out of 20 Serie A clubs begin this season with a new manager – 14 if you include Cesc Fàbregas, who served as Osian Roberts’s No 2 at Como for the second half of last season while he completed his coaching qualifications. Ten hires came directly from another Italian team.
Amid so much change, the relationship between the reigning champions Internazionale and their manager Simone Inzaghi looks stronger than ever. They were rumoured to be close to a breakup in the spring of 2023, before their run to the Champions League final set them back on track. Inter finished last season 19 points clear atop Serie A, adding a second gold star to their club badge.
No team has won consecutive Scudetti since Juventus’s nine-year streak came to an end in 2020 but Inter are well positioned to try. This is the first summer of Inzaghi’s tenure that no regular starters have departed. Instead, Inter have added depth in midfield and attack with the free transfer signings of Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi.
Will the competition be stiffer? Motta did astonishing work at Bologna, getting them into the European Cup for the first time in 60 years, and Juventus are working to give him the tools he needs to succeed in Turin.
Their €51.5m (£39.5m) signing of Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa is easily the biggest investment in a single player by any Serie A club this summer, and only one element of a midfield overhaul. Khéphren Thuram arrived from Nice and Juventus continue to pursue Atalanta’s Teun Koopmeiners, who may command the highest fee of all.
Neither Motta nor Juve’s directors have named the Scudetto as an objective. The manager said his goal is to create a team that feels “proud and happy after every game” – a wise place to start with a club whose fans were frustrated as much by Massimiliano Allegri’s negative tactics as the collapse of last season’s title bid. Yet it bears remembering that Motta’s predecessor still finished third and won the Coppa Italia.
Conte, too, has avoided title talk. Napoli were champions two seasons ago but, after watching his new team labour to a penalty shoot-out win over Serie B side Modena in the Coppa Italia on Saturday, he was quick to remind us they finished 10th and have bid farewell to 12 members of the first-team squad since then.
Still, Napoli continue to look like this season’s wildcard. Conte has won league titles at three of the last four clubs he managed – with Tottenham the only exception. Napoli will not sell Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in this transfer window, and no club has yet triggered Victor Osimhen’s release clause. They have added an excellent centre-back, Alessandro Buongiorno, from Torino and don’t have European football to distract them.
For now, though, Milan’s new manager, Paulo Fonseca has been the only one to break cover. After a successful US tour featuring victories over Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester City, the Portuguese was asked about his objectives for this season and replied with an unequivocal: “Win the Scudetto”.
The Rossoneri finished second last season and have addressed their priorities this summer, signing Álvaro Morata to replace Olivier Giroud up front and the Serbia centre-back Strahinja Pavlovic to reinforce a defence that conceded 49 league goals. Still, the biggest question will be whether Fonseca can elevate individual talents into a more consistent collective than Stefano Pioli.
Atalanta deserve to be named among the contenders, after lifting the Europa League last season. But cruciate-ligament injuries to two of their best players – Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvini – are heavy blows, and potentially losing Koopmeiners so close to the start of the campaign would only compound them.
Throughout the division, there are more questions than answers. What becomes of Bologna now Motta, Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori have all departed? Italiano led Fiorentina to consecutive Europa Conference League finals but might this reward of an opportunity to coach in the Champions League prove hollow?
Can Daniele De Rossi kick on after a positive start with Roma, who freshened up their forward options by signing Artem Dovbyk and Matías Soulé but may bid farewell to Paulo Dybala. Will Lazio’s new manager, Marco Baroni, find ways to coexist with owner Claudio Lotito that his predecessor Igor Tudor could not?
What becomes of the Verona side he left behind? They are among the favourites for relegation, together with Cagliari, Udinese, Empoli and Lecce, as well newly promoted sides Parma and Venezia – the latter reportedly at risk of bankruptcy this summer before raising fresh investment from the Canadian rapper Drake.
Como, the other promoted team, have added a host of high-profile veterans including Raphaël Varane, Alberto Moreno, Pepe Reina and Andrea Belotti. Both they and Monza ought to be more comfortable on their path to safety.
That leaves Fiorentina, Torino and Genoa. The Viola signed David de Gea and Moise Kean but above all will hope Palladino can bring fresh ideas. Torino also have a new manager, Paolo Vanoli, who led Venezia to promotion. But Buongiorno is a major loss.
Genoa finished 11th under Alberto Gilardino last season, consolidating well after promotion. They kick off at home to Inter on Saturday afternoon. A rare thing in this new season: two teams led by managers who have held their jobs for more than three months.
