The competition is only growing.

The first matches of the new season took place last weekend Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1 – Serie A is now back with the Bundesliga. In the last championship of Italy, a very bright and attractive champion appeared – and in the next draw there is every chance that the owner of the scudetto will change. We open a new page in the history of Italian battles.

Naples without victorious manager and central defender

There is enough skepticism about the Neapolitans. In the 22/23 season all the pieces of the puzzle finally came together, Spalletti’s team played daring attacking football, were first in Serie A by a huge margin, cheerfully passed the group stage in the Champions League, got into the part of the playoff group where Real Madrid was not ”, “Manchester City” and “Bavaria” – and therefore was called a contender for getting into the final (as a result, the club flew out of Milan in the quarterfinals ).

A strong selection of players decided a lot – here is the top scorer Osimkhen, high-quality midfield, sparkling Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim Min-Je in defense. The key figure was Luciano Spalletti, who assembled a formidable team from a group of individually strong artists.

But, as often happens, the bad news comes soon after the triumph. The Italian coach left Napoli – according to rumors there was a conflict with the management, but Luciano himself speaks of fatigue. Following him, Kim left the team – the central defender did not come to Manchester and turned to Munich to play for Bayern. In general, the losses of the Neapolitans could have been much greater – Osimhen and Khvicha themselves are extremely attractive to European giants. But even those that have already happened are enough to doubt the prospects of the champion.

Napoli are now led by Rudy Garcia – the Frenchman is long past the peak of his coaching career and recently worked at Al-Nasr, so he is a highly controversial choice. The coach will have to demonstrate that he can maintain the championship brand, the Neapolitans – that even with the loss of important players and the strengthening of competitors will not give up without a fight.

AC Milan try to win Serie A

This summer the Rossoneri are the main troublemakers on the transfer market. Stefano Pioli brought the team their first championship in 11 years in the 21/22 season, but the following season showed that Milan lacked champion stamina, bench depth and experience – they dropped to 5th place.

And now the club has taken another step forward – it has embarked on a large-scale purchase. The Milanese made a series of interesting deals: at Chelsea they signed Christian Pulisic, who was downcast, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who was lost in the variety of Blues midfielders. In addition to Ruben, the central axis was integrated by Yunus Musa and Tijani Reynders, and the promising and talented Noah Okafor was chosen at the tip.

Now Pioli has a large toolkit and, accordingly, the depth of the bench – and therefore Milan can be considered one of Napoli’s closest competitors.

Inter without Onana and Lukaku

The story with the “Nerazzurri” was unpleasant. Lukaku, after recovering from his injury, once again showed the level, so the club was ready to redeem him. At the same time, the bosses of the Italian giant did not have the necessary amount: Chelsea demanded about 40 million euros for the purchase of the Belgian.

To speed up the transfer, Inter decided to deal with Manchester United on the sale of goalkeeper Andre Onana – the Mancunians wanted the first number to play with his feet, and the Cameroonian was well acquainted with Manchester United manager Eric Ten Hag. The transfer was arranged, the money was received – only Romelu contacted Juventus in the meantime, which pissed off the Inter management. The Nerazzurri’s position is fundamental, refusing further negotiations with the Belgian striker.

The loss of both players for the team is sensitive. They found a replacement: they took striker Markus Thuram as a free agent and also signed goalkeeper Yann Sommer. In fact, they went to zero – plus they rented Marko Arnautovic, agreed with Juan Cuadrado, borrowed the talented Italian midfielder Davide Frattesi and made several more interesting signings.

If Milan have made a full-fledged acquisition, Inter have focused on free agents and loans – and therefore the cost of this summer is around 34 million euros. And with this approach, the Nerazzurri could also remain at the top: the question is whether Thuram and Sommer will be able to completely replace the deceased.

Juventus is a dark horse

The chances that Lukaku will move to Juventus are less and less, while the bianconeri have managed to make a series of signings even without the Belgian. For the most part, Zebre have invested in youngsters: Weah, Gonzalez have joined the Juventus squad, Keane, Locatelli and Milik have taken over the club. Of all, only the last is over 23 years old.

Last season, the “old lady” was in 7th place – but then sanctions intervened: 10 points were taken away from the team. Then they also deprived me of tickets to the Conference League.

On the one hand, a negative background can knock out a team that doesn’t present itself as a threat even with Allegri. On the other hand, you won’t have to play on two fronts, you can concentrate on the championship. Furthermore, the Bianconeri would have ended up in the area without deducting points last season. Champions League – which means they can now fight for the top three.