In the end, Mount Vesuvius erupted, though it was bubbling loudly and ominously for a bit beforehand. By the time Napoli sealed that first Scudetto in 34 years on May 5, it had been coming so much that anyone planning to celebrate had enough time to have planned their fourth and fifth backup outfits and backup parties in case any initial celebration plans were scuppered. The Naples side dominated the 2022-23 Serie A season from the get-go, and by the time club football events halted for that World Cup break, the impossible was already seeming inevitable. They were so over the hills and so far away to even hear any potential talk of whether they might slip up.
Yet, as Napoli were coasting to the title, a few thoughts were on the minds of everyone, which players would leave? Or rather, which star players would they retain? To say it was a team effort that took Napoli to the title would be cliched, but very true, and yet, like in any other winning team, there will always be those who caught the headlines, the back pages, and most pertinently, the transfer rumour mill. For the Italian champions, it was Victor Osimhen, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Min-Jae Kim. The question was who would Napoli prefer to lose come this summer, if not all, and how would they cope?
So far, they’ve lost just Kim, but the biggest setback was one not many anticipated. After years of being a nearly man in Italian football, Luciano Spalletti finally won a Scudetto as a manager with Napoli, then surprised a few by choosing to step down from the Estadio Armando Maradona dugout. And if Spalletti’s departure wasn’t exciting, his replacement isn’t inspiring either.
Enter, Rudi Garcia, whose previous foray in Serie A began with 10 straight wins in a row with Roma, and ended with his sacking overdue – ironically, to be replaced then by Spalletti – whose previous 3 jobs were Al Nassr, Lyon, and Marseille, none of have been memorable. Garcia may have won a surprise league title with Lille, but that was a dozen years ago, and he’s not in a position of the underdog, but rather the steward of the champions, and his last two jobs in Europe were because those clubs were in dire need of stability, and they ditched him when they wanted it to become upward mobility.
So, Napoli are kings, but are by no means expected to waltz to the crown again, even without Spalletti having left. Yet, we should by no means discount them. That’s because for the first time in a while, the Serie A title looks like anyone’s. In the top section, at least.
Previous champions Milan fell off a bit last season, so much so that manager Stefano Pioli briefly looked in danger of the axe, and the team had to be given talking to by the ultras on the pitch in April. But the Rossoneri have recruited smartly in this window, and, despite losing Sandro Tonali and Brahim Diaz, have kept key players like Rafael Leao, Fikayo Tomori, and Mike Maignan in particular. Signings like Noah Okafor, Christian Pulisic, and Samuel Chuwkueze make for a potentially exciting outlook up front, even though Milan’s bigger problem from last season was that only two teams in the top half conceded more goals last season, and they only conceded three less than 16th-placed Lecce. A season of Maignan being fully fit in goal should help reduce that problem (he only appeared in 22 league games last season).
Milan’s city neighbours Internazionale also suffered a drop last season from the 2021/22 campaign. Much of the Nerazzurri’s 2022/23 campaign – despite winning the Coppa Italia and being a few millimetres away from winning the Champions League – was beset by financial problems, so much so that there were questions about which players would stay, and which ones they could even afford to keep. Their summer has been partly overshadowed by the furore surrounding Romelu Lukaku, who looked like he might stay, then looked to be heading for rivals Juventus, only for both clubs, and Chelsea, and player to be caught in a mire. Up front, they’ve also lost Edin Dzeko, and they missed out Gianluca Scamacca, although they snapped up Marcus Thuram early. In midfield, Marcelo Brozovic is gone, and at the back there’s the inevitable departure of Milan Skriniar, while goalkeeper Andre Onana is off to Old Trafford (replaced by Yann Sommer). In truth, many expected Inter’s summer to be a bit more bleed-y in terms of haemorrhaging players, and they have made some smart signings in Davide Frattesi and Carlos Augusto, and Juan Cuadrado also arrives from Juve. But don’t mistake that for certainty at the club just yet.
Speaking of Juventus… the now very dethroned Old Lady have gone three years without the Serie A title, after nine in a row, and also saw last season bogged with financial issues, which resulted in them getting docked points, settling for a Europa Conference League place, and bargaining their way into being suspended from that one as well. No European football this season, whose headline acquisition is Timothy Weah from Lille. Max Allegri did throw some youth players in the mix last season – by necessity more than choice, initially – and will have a fit Federico Chiesa, fingers crossed, but the manager known to deliver substance over style hasn’t quite produced either since he returned to Turin, and no European distractions means no excuses if they don’t take a shot at the Scudetto.
Yet, neither Juventus nor the Milan sides were the closest to Napoli last season, in terms of points. That was Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio, whose second-place finish last term might have been a touch flattering, but they were still the best team not named Napoli in the league. The Biancocelesti’s 60 goals last season was the lowest among the Top Five, but only Napoli conceded less than them in the entire. Despite the loss of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (who scored 15% of their league goals), Lazio have had very little come their way in terms of instability, and while he may not be a direct replacement, Daichi Kamada on a free from Frankfurt is an attacking threat in his own right. Lazio will feel they have a shot at mounting a first title challenge since the 2019/20 season, and maybe a shot at the title itself for the first time in 24 years, but they’ll need Ciro Immobile back firing, though. The Italian striker’s Serie A goal count per season since joining Lazio reads: 23, 29, 19, 36, 26, and 27, until last season, of course, when he only scored 12. The skipper will need to lead from the front if he wants the Blue side from Rome to be the next to break a Scudetto duck.
From Blue side of Rome to the Red side, then, with Roma, whose 2022/23 season ended with sixth place and the bitter taste of the Europa League final. But Jose Mourinho’s team haven’t lost anyone they didn’t mind letting go of in this window, and have bolstered their midfield options, both creatively and defensively, with the arrivals of Leandro Paredes, Renato Sanches, and Houssem Aouar. Creativity and attacking threat from midfield is needed, in fact from anywhere else that’s not Paulo Dybala and Tammy Abraham, two of them combined scored nearly half their league goals last term, and the fact that the ‘nearly half’ is only 20 shows how much that’s lacking. After the Europa League defeat, there was the feeling that Mourinho (who made a nightmare of himself with the referee afterwards) might walk away. Both the Portuguese stays on for the infamous third season, perhaps sensing the uncertainty surrounding the league and the chance to lead Roma to the promised land. A title challenge may be out of the question, but Jose and co can hope.
As can the rest of us. With eternal upstarts Atalanta also lurking in the shadows, Serie A looks up for grabs this season, either thanks to smart recruitment, uncertain chaos, or a combination of both, and we might be set for the most rollercoaster ten months at the top end of Italian football.
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