Championship, minus 1. 24 more hours of patience and then the curtain will rise on Series A 2022 / 23, ready to give us entertainment and twists like never before. Yes, because this edition presents numerous anomalies, starting with a calendar completely unpublished, which could affect much more than usual.
It is part of the August 13th and this is already an absolute novelty, but above all fifteen matches will be played between now and 13 November, before stopping for the World Cup in Qatar and resume on January 4th. In fact we will see two different championships, a sort of "Apertura" and "Clasiva" like in Argentina, with the difference that here the Scudetto will still be only one.
To further complicate things, then, it takes the market, which promises to create havoc until 20pm on 1 September: the first four days will have this additional burden, making everything even more unpredictable. Having made the last premise, it is therefore impossible to go too far in a real starting grid, given that the squads could change quite a bit over the next three weeks, but let's try at least for the beginning of August, a very first segment which however will give away as many as 12 points.
Serie A championship: AC Milan
Never before has it been difficult to choose an absolute favourite, but perhaps the pole position deserves it reigning champion Milan, if only for having kept the winning structure almost unchanged. The eleven that won the Scudetto lost Kessie but gained The Ketelaere, a talented Belgian attacking midfielder who promises a lot; above all, however, the pyramid remained unchanged Maldini-Massara-Pioli, without forgetting the various big names that could have had a market (Leao, Theo Hernandez, Tomori and Kalulu) and which instead have been armored since the beginning. A team that wins doesn't change, at most it gets stronger and the Rossoneri, waiting for the final rush of the transfer market (there could still be a midfielder and a defender), did exactly that, applying to defend the Italian flag won in May.
Serie A championship: Inter
If this were a Formula One GP, Inter would start second, but only by a few tenths. The big doubt about the Nerazzurri is linked to the transfer market, because Skriniar and/or Dumfries are not yet certain of staying: with them it would be a Scudetto-worthy team, indeed they would probably become the number one favorite, without which the considerations would change, especially with the Slovakian , hardly replaceable at this point in the summer. Judging today's Inter, however, we are talking about a group strengthened by the return of Lukaku and by the various Mkhitaryan, Asllani, Bellanova and Onana, even if the loss of Perisic shouldn't be underestimated, especially after the difficulties revealed by Gosens. In short, the Nerazzurri promise battle, in an attempt to take back that Scudetto that is still burning.
Rome is the real surprise
The big news in the starting blocks is José Mourinho's Roma, but above all of Dybala, Wijnaldum, Matic and…Zaniolo, remained in the Capital (at least for the moment) despite the numerous market sirens. The Giallorossi thus climb the rankings, going from the incomplete team of a few months ago to a decidedly more competitive one, determined to have its say not only in terms of the Champions League. The result is that the square has literally gone mad, as evidenced by the sold out series recorded always and in any case, regardless of competitions and opponents. We don't know if this will be enough to even compete for the Scudetto, but the Rome 2022/23 he can at least try: and this, in the light of the recent past, is already a victory.
Serie A Championship: Juventus are not the favourites
Here we are at the great paradox of the summer: the queen of the market, at least in terms of names, is not the favorite for the title. At least not yet, given that the missing three weeks could change the face of the Lady quite a bit, but today it is like this and the pre-season confirmed it mercilessly. They have arrived Di Maria, Pogba, Bremer, Gatti and Kostic in the face of the departures of De Ligt and Chiellini, transforming the face of the team in an important way, yet the difficulties on the field have remained the same, demonstrating a still incomplete work, both in terms of men (you need a director and a striker, as well as the transfers of Arthur and Rabiot) and techniques. This last observation leads us to talk about Merry, called to restore a winning soul to Juventus 3.0: if he doesn't succeed, most likely, he won't get another chance.
Napoli loses its favourites
Last in starting order, obviously as regards the big names, Spalletti's Napoli, literally overturned (some would say disfigured) by the summer transfer market. The departures of Koulibaly, Insigne, Mertens, Ospina and, almost certainly, Fabian Ruiz have been real stabs in the heart of the blue people, who now hope to raise their heads again with Kim, Kvaratskhelia and the probable arrivals of Raspadori, Simeone and Keylor Navas . We are facing a completely new chapter, a blank page to be written, but without the usual injection of enthusiasm from a disheartened fan base, ready however to be won over by any surprises. Spalletti has the task of trying to give them away, even if to date the most realistic (and far from obvious) goal remains the Champions League qualification.
