Of the major European leagues, Serie A is the last to start, but in terms of interest and appeal it is second to none. Despite the winds of crisis and a Uefa ranking that perhaps doesn't do it entirely justice, the tournament that kicks off this weekend in fact presents several ideas that suggest a Serie A which could, hopefully, return to the glories of a few years ago.
First of all, the samples. Those who in recent years, from Ibrahimovic to Cavani, from Lavezzi to Thiago Silva, had ruthlessly left the boot to settle down in shores perhaps no longer prestigious but certainly richer such as Manchester, Paris or in other cases Madrid and Barcelona, are now returning. It will be for i money starting to turn again, thanks to virtuous managements such as those of Juventus and Napoli or to foreign acquisitions such as the case of Inter (whose passage into foreign hands is another great novelty of the season that begins), or for the growing appeal of teams such as Napoli itself capable of convincing three Real Madrid players to come under Vesuvius, or Fiorentina which presents a multinational from 17 different countries with the European champion Mario Gomez at the center of the attack, but the music finally seems to have changed.
And so here at the starting blocks of Serie A we find players like Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain, Mario Balotelli, the German ex Bayern himself and all those who remained, from the reborn El Shaarawy to the guarantee Klose, from the contested Ljajic to the new Llorente, Giuseppe Rossi, Gervinho and all those who have yet to arrive, given that the market will close after the second day and that some teams can count on a good liquidity (Rome and Naples above all) to place some last minute shots.
And if it is unfortunately also true that some stars have left Italy (see Cavani, Osvaldo and Lamela), Serie A will be the most multi-ethnic league in the world this year: the Tower of Babel is led by Fiorentina which has players from 17 countries, ahead of 16 from Inter and Lazio while even newly promoted Livorno has 6, just 3 less than Milan. The most represented nation is confirmed to be Argentina with 45 players, however followed by Brazil with 43 and Cavani's orphaned Uruguay is also growing with 19 representatives. The Swiss are 10, the Colombians rise to 9, but the real novelty are the 11 Spaniards (of which 3 in Naples, plus the coach Benitez), who have never done particularly well in Italy and who are now called for redemption: this is the championship leading up to the World Cup, and doing well is essential for everyone, foreigners and Italians alike.
Returning to matters that concern the fans more closely, the inevitable predictions. Difficult to do, with the market still open and with few significant games behind us on which to express reliable judgements. Just to give an example, Milan have not made any signings, but have long been aiming for Ljajic and Honda, and if one of the two arrives as early as September, the Rossoneri's starting grid position could even be moved higher. All in all though, this would appear to be another season on the card where Allegri's team shouldn't get involved in the Scudetto fight: the attack, awaiting the aforementioned strikes, is the only department already well covered, while the real emergency concerns the attacking midfielder (in this sense, Honda would be much more useful than Ljajic) and at least the defence, with the usual doubts about lateral.
Instead, it is confirmed in pole position, as per unanimous predictions, Conte's Juventus: if it is true that winning the scudetto for the third consecutive year is very difficult, it is equally undeniable that the bianconeri were and remain the team to beat, with the addition of two attacking champions such as Tevez and Llorente, even if the latter has so far convinced little. Behind the Turin battleship last year ended Napoli, which on paper confirms itself as the first antagonist: the change of coach from Mazzarri to Benitez raises some perplexities given Rafa's dramatic precedent on an Italian bench, but it is also true that without the international charisma of the multi-victorious Spanish coach they would not have agreed to go to Naples as champions Higuain, Albiol and Reina, whose arrival – along with others – would seem at the moment to have more than compensated for Cavani's painful departure.
Behind Napoli the first uncertainties begin to appear: on paper the best equipped and best tested team is Vincenzo Montella's Fiorentina, which now finally has its weight center forward in Mario Gomez but on which weighs the sword of Damocles of the possible departure of Ljajic, waiting to verify the full recovery of Giuseppe Rossi.
The Viola is certainly in the first three places, but they will have to beware of the revived Milan (see above) and Inter, who are counting on the certainty of a winning coach like Mazzarri but who are starting almost from scratch after the last few very disappointing seasons, and from Romans who don't excite but who in the end - especially Lazio - always have their say. On the Rome-Milan axis, the most insidious team in terms of quality and experience, albeit incomplete, should in any case be confirmed as Milan. Afterwards, without the sensational transfers at the end of the transfer market, we would certainly have said Roma, then Lazio and Inter. So instead it's all an unknown factor, and the Giallorossi could even end up at the bottom of this small group if the money from the sales of Osvaldo and Lamela weren't quickly and appropriately reinvested.
At the moment there is only one certainty: today the hunt for Juventus begins, and some teams have never been hungry like this year. Entertainment and battles are guaranteed.
