Can Juventus be challenged this season?

Well, it has been a crazy summer around Europe, ridiculous transfer fees, Euros and the Olympics. Let’s  return to what really matters, the actual football. The tifosi in the curvas are jumping.  Yeah Serie A is back and boy am I glad! Fresh from a successful Euro 2016 campaign, Italian football saved some face after a disappointing 2015/2016 for Italian club football when they blew their chances of stealing a Champions League slot from the English clubs for the 2017/2018 season which would have meant that we would have seen only three English teams qualify for the champions league. Cries in “Fourth is a trophy”.

The closed season saw some eye-watering deals, Juventus have once again been the pick of the bunch in my opinion signing the exciting Pjaca from Dinamo Zigreb, the evergreen Dani Alves from Barcelona, Midfield fantanista Mirajim Pjanic from fellow Serie A rivals and the mouth-watering €94 million deal for last season’s Cappocanierre. With those signing additions to Dybala and Co, Juventus are overwhelming favourites to win the league again even with the loss of Paul Pogba to Manchester United. I shall evaluate the chances of the rest of the title contenders.

Napoli.

Maurizio Sarri last season proved last season he is the real deal. After a debut Serie A season with Empoli in the 2014/2015 coming  15^th, he moved to Napoli signing a one year deal  with his hometown club replacing Rafa Benitez and passed his audition season astutely. His predecessor Rafa Benitiez was appointed by De Laurentiis with the aim of  improving  Napoli’s  global brand and to  play a more exciting brand of football after the departure of Walter Mazzari to Inter. Rafa achieved this objective somewhat attracting Higuain and Callejon both from the Los Blancos in Spain. We also saw something uncharacteristic of a Benitez team: a porous defence. Sarri stabilised the defence whilst playing beautiful football and is beloved by the players and the ultras at the San Paolo  for finishing 2^nd, playing some of the best football on the peninsula and impressing most in the land. His Napoli team play some really entertaining football, lining up in his preferred 4-3-3 formation.

During the close season, they lost their talisman and leader on the pitch, Higuain which is a huge blow as some of his performances last campaign were the best of his career thus far, breaking Nordahl’s 66 year record with 36 goals in 35 games.

Some reinforcements have come in the form of the Polish duo, Arkadiusz Milik and Piotr Zielinski from Udinese, Amadou Diawara from Bologna and Lorenzo Tonelli from Empoli.

Napoli will need to pull together as a team and Insigne, Allan, Hamsik and Milik will be expected to reach new heights to compensate for the loss of El Pipita. Manolo Gabbiadini should also have something to prove.

With Sarri at the helm, I can see Napoli challenging along with Roma for the top Champions League spots. However,  you fear that in opting to service the Bianconeri by selling them Higuain, they have passed up the promise shown last season and reduced the odds of them winning their first title since the 1989/1990 season.

ROMA

The team of the eternal city (Sorry, Lazio fans). Roma have been less noisy with their transfer business but I have been impressed with their signings during the summer. They have managed to shrug off interest for most of their prized assets, Pjanic to Juve aside. Radja Nainggolan pledged to stay at the end of last season kept his word in the wake of Antonio Conte’s interest. Their captain Totti will stay on for another year after resolving his differences with coach Luciano Spaletti and will be given the farewell he merits.

Additions such as Mario Rui from Empoli, Juan Jesus from Inter, Bruno Peres from Torino, Leon Parades from a successful loan spell at Empoli, Alission and Brazilian sensation Gerson. Szczesny returning to the club after spending last season on loan at the Olimpico are not headliners, however make it into the champions league proper and there are rumours of sealing a move for midfield maestro Borja Valero from Florence.

Spaletti returned to the Olimpico after several years away at Zenit where he won two league titles. He was impressive after replacing Rudi Garcia and of course is loved by the Curva Sud. They were unlucky to exit in the Champions League against Real Madrid in the first knockout round last season. He got the best out of Salah and El Shaarawy- who he signed on loan from Milan in January and has since been bought outrightly. Also impressive was his use of Diego Perotti in the “false 9” position (which we saw in his first spell at the club then occupied by Francesco Totti ) with Salah and El Shaarawy flagging him on both sides.

In El Shaarawy and Salah they have pace and balance on either side in a system where the inside forwards are very key because when Diego Perotti picks the ball in a deeper position the two inside forwards become two pacey strikers (a role which Iturbe can also play). Although they lost Mirajem Pjancic and Lucas Digne who returned to Paris St German from his loan spell and is now at Barcelona, Roma seem to be stronger than they were in the previous season and with a manager like Spaletti and Kevin Strootman fit for the new season, I expect them to be the key challengers to Juventus’s throne this season. A striker to replace the inconsistent Edin Dzeko upfront would have helped.

INTER.

In comes, Frank De Boer, the Dutch coach who earned success with Dutch giants Ajax over the past 6 years (winning 4 league titles). After disagreements over transfer policy with the new owners Suning group, Mancini was put out of his misery.

De Boer comes into Inter with a more defined way of playing football than Mancini- possession based football, transitions on the counter attack and lots of distance covered. Strikers under his guidance boast of lethal stats and he is on record boasting about this. However, whether that has to do with him coaching in the Dutch league time will tell.

Inter have added Ever Banega on a free from Seville, the three time Europa league winner is one of the most exciting playmakers around. Candreva also joined the Nerazurri from Lazio. A €45 million move for Joao Mario is  another welcome addition, after an impressive summer with the successful Portuguese team. That aside, their transfer window was underwhelming for a club that has missed out on the Champions League for 4 years. Last season, the Champions League final was hosted at the San Siro and it was a shame that both Milan giants weren’t even in the tournament.

With new investment coming from the Chinese and de Boer’s arrival, I think Inter will be looking for a season for the players to adapt to the Dutchman’s style of play and a finish in the Champions league places would be optimal for Inter this season.

However, with Eder, Jovetic, and the lethal Mauro Icardi still at the club only Juventus can boast of a better strikeforce and this could serve Inter well in pushing Roma and Juventus.

Fiorentina.

They always seem to be around the top without actually challenging for the title, with the refreshing Paulo Sousa at the helm. They notably signed Polish keeper Bartlomiej Dragowski from  Jagiellonia Białystok (one for the FM boys here).

I don’t expect them to compete for the title. However they will serve up beautiful attacking football and would always almost certainly be a great watch with Bernardaschi, Kalanic, Tino Costa, Illic and Borja Valero. They could do great things in the Europa League this season and ever push Napoli, Inter and Roma for the Champions League places.

Milan.

It is sad for this great Italian institution. It has been a long time coming but the straw that broke the camel’s back was the introduction of financial fair play by UEFA, clubs could no longer be dependent on their sugar daddies or in the case of AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi and Fininvest. Sporting director Adriano Gallani a transfer Guru as he is hailed or would like to be, has always been in the market wheeling and dealing for players, seeking cheaper alternatives, the team has lacked structure, foresight and a clear vison. Over the past two summers they waited for Mr Bee to arrive at the club and inject the much needed investment. Unluckily for Milanistas, Mr bee never showed up and thankfully, Silvio Berlusconi the legendary president and true patron for the Milansta has decided to sell the club to Chinese investors. The deal is to be finalised on the 8^th of September and there is talk of a board shuffle which will see Galliani leave and Ausulio from Inter arrive, or Parde formally of Fiorentina as sporting director.

Under Mihajlovic last season Milan showed commitment and fight but so often lacked the quality and finesse required to win games for a team of her stature, then of course, he was dismissed. Vincenzo Montella is the man currently at the helm of affairs.

Milan’s transfer window has once again been underwhelming, signing Jose Sosa from Beskitas for €7 million, Gianluca Lapadula from Pescara for €10 million, defender Gustavo Gomez from Lanus for €8 million. Retaining the services of Carlos Bacca  was essential as he is one of the purest strikers in the game. Jack Bonaventura also looked really good last campaign.

It can be said the best piece of business done by the Rossoneri this summer was the appointment of the L’Aeroplanino as their manger this season: a young exciting Italian coach who has a preference for  possession and attacking football. The return of Niang from injury and Suso from loan will add creativity and goal threat to Montella’s wings and by letting go of Kevin Prince Boateng, Mario Balotelli and Philippe Mexes, big egos and high earning deadweight have been cut loose. With no European commitments this season,  Montella has just 38 games to mount a respectable title challenge.

There is chance they could compete for honours even with the heavily disjointed squad, as the Europe factor could see Milan kick off the title challenge and then fade away.

Lazio.

It has been a summer to forget for Lazio from the Bielsa debacle to Balde Keita and Felipe Anderson not returning back for preseason trying to engineer from the club. There is keen competition for the worst run top Italian club, but this summer Lazio are producing the kind of drama those two in Milan could not dream of.  With Bielsla deciding not to join after initially agreeing to, scampered off deals for Thavin . It is looking like this with an untested Simone Inzaghi at the helm after he replaced Pioli last season. Lazio bar a miracle will do well to challenge for a Europa League spot, with the departure of Miro Klose and Candreva more transfer dealings are needed to improve an average squad. It isn’t all bleak as the Biancocelesti do very some really good young players such as De Vrij, Danilo Cataldi, Jordan Lukaku, Sergej Milinkovic, Savic and Ricardo Kishna so they shouldn’t be written off so easily.

Sassuolo.

A name not familiar to people outside the shores of Italy, Sassuolo are becoming a model club in the land  for making the best of its resources despite not having the profile of any of the names mentioned above. The Nerovedi qualified for the Europa league last season ahead of Milan and will dare to dream again this season, with an Italian core and a young Italian coach in Eusebio Di Francesco back at the helm after leading them to Serie A in 2013 and then senselessly sacked but recalled weeks after to steer them away from relegation, Sassuolo haven’t looked back since and are becoming a main stay in Serie A.

During the close season, they lost Nicola Sinsone and Simone Vrsajiko to Spain’s La Liga via Villarreal and Atletico Madrid respectively. Berardi was convinced to stay amid interest from Juventus following Morata’s move to Real Madrid.

With the addition of European competition this season, it would be interesting to see which of the competitions the small club will prioritize. A surprise title challenge is not beyond them this season as the club keeps growing!

Juventus are overwhelming favourites once again to win the league table and make it 6 in a row, I think they will secretly be hoping for the other clubs to mount a stiffer challenge this season as they have very realistic champions league expectations and they will need to be put under pressure for longer this season to be playing at the higher level to match their champions league ambitions.

Roma provide the most realistic challenge for the old lady this season, however if inter can get it right early and adapt to De Boer style of play they also could be realistic title challengers Napoli under Sarri could also spring up some surprises and the loss of Higuaín could see them wanting to prove a point to the rest of Italy.