Champions Inter out in front as Serie A rivals ring the changes

BeSoccer 3 months ago 6.9k

Lautaro Martinez will lead Inter Milans defence of their Serie A title. AFP

Inter Milan are heavy favourites to retain their Serie A title ahead of their opening match of the coming season at Genoa on Saturday, as their Scudetto rivals rebuild under new coaches.

Simone Inzaghi's side cruised to a 20th league crown last term and, while the summer has brought a host of changes elsewhere, little has yet happened to suggest a clear challenger to Inter's supremacy.

Change of ownership to US investment fund Oaktree, who took control of the club in May after previous owners Suning defaulted on a huge loan, had initially suggested a period of uncertainty and potential upheaval.

Instead Oaktree kept on sporting and corporate CEOs Giuseppe Marotta and Alessandro Antonello - also making Marotta club president - and pushed ahead with important contract renewals which ensure on-pitch stability.

Inzaghi and star midfielder Nicolo Barella have both signed new deals which commit their futures to the club while captain and last season's Serie A top scorer Lautaro Martinez has extended his contract until 2029.

Meanwhile Marotta has worked the free agent angle to bolster attack and midfield with Mehdi Taremi and Piotr Zielinski as Oaktree try to stabilise the accounts of a financially leaky club.

All change

Inter are settled, which is more than can be said for their rivals, in particular AC Milan who will be an unknown quantity under Paulo Fonseca. They have, however, kept hold of star men Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez and have signed Alvaro Morata as Olivier Giroud's replacement.

Juventus are overhauling their team after hiring Thiago Motta, and travelled to Sunday's friendly defeat to Atletico Madrid without out-of-favour Federico Chiesa, Wojciech Szczesny, Weston McKennie, Arkadiusz Milik and Filip Kostic.

All were regulars under Motta's predecessor Massimiliano Allegri but are on the transfer list as the new boss promises a more fluid, less defensive style of football and a demanding fan base demands a title challenge.

Juve have brought in Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa for over 50 million euros and Khephren Thuram, who joins his older brother Marcus in returning to the country of his birth by signing for the club where his father Lilian won two Serie A titles.

Motta will have to wait to have his full line-up available to him as Juve push to sign Teun Koopmeiners from Atalanta and Fiorentina winger Nicolas Gonzalez.

The 41-year-old former Italy midfielder is one of 13 managerial changes to take place since the end of last season, with just two top 10 teams - Inter and Europa League winners Atalanta - to have the same coach as at the start of the last campaign.

Como comeback

Juve begin life under Motta on Monday with the visit of ambitious Como, who were dumped out of the Italian Cup by Sampdoria ahead of their first Serie A season in over two decades.

Como, managed by former Spain, Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas, have been busy in the summer trying to build a team which can stay up after flying through the divisions since being bought by tobacco giant Djarum five years ago.

Mega-rich owners, an impressive marketing campaign and the beautiful lakeside location of their stadium have helped bring in the likes of Raphael Varane and former Spain full-back Alberto Moreno.

Napoli, at Verona on Sunday, have frozen out unsettled Victor Osimhen to maintain team spirit under new coach Antonio Conte who will try to lead the 2023 champions back from a disastrous title defence which left them without European football for the first time since 2010.

"Victor wants to leave... he's a good player but we need to protect the harmony of the group," said Napoli's sporting director Giovanni Manna ahead of Saturday's penalty shootout win over Modena in the Italian Cup.

Conte described his first official match in charge of Napoli, which finished goalless, as a "reality check" and urged the club to strengthen his squad, with a complicated swap of Osimhen with Chelsea's perennial want-away striker Romelu Lukaku reportedly in the works.