With three games left in the season, Juventus were crowned the 2015/2016 Serie A champions as Roma beat Napoli 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico. The Old Lady put together an historical stretch of games, gaining 73 out of a total of 75 points in their last 25 league fixtures, fixing a very poor start to their campaign.
Winning five Scudetti in a row has only been done by two other teams: Juventus (1931-1935) and Torino (1943-1949, excluding 1944 and 1946 due to World War II). If you count the Calciopoli-given 2005/2006 title, Inter also did it between 2006 and 2010. But that first one is just a title on paper… Right?
No team has been able to win six Serie A crowns in a row but this Juventus squad has all the capabilities to pull off the unthinkable. So let’s assess the Bianconeri’s stock for the 2016/2017 season, as well as the stock for Juve’s biggest contenders (in order).
Juventus: UP
It’s been pretty obvious that the Old Lady have everything going their way at the moment. There’s not one big Serie A club with such impressive financial results and power as Juventus. Add that to the fact that this team is the only true Italian contender for the Champions League, and you know why the Bianconeri are dominating their domestic league by a clear margin.
Juve’s star power, versatility, and depth are unparalleled in Italy. Even in the case of Alvaro Morata and Paul Pogba leaving Turin, there’s no reason to believe Juventus’ quality will take a dip. They will receive €30 million for the Spaniard and at least €85 million for their French star, which gives the Old Lady an extra transfer budget of at least €115 million. Hello Edinson Cavani, N’Golo Kante, Andre Gomes, and Hendrikh Mkhitaryan?
But despite all the rumours about Pogba leaving, the Frenchman could easily prolong his stay in Turin. Why not? The injury riddled Juve were one minute away from eliminating the mighty Bayern Munich from the European stage. Add Gomes, Domenico Berardi, some defensive help on the wings and Juve are ready to finally win the Champions League again. With Pogba as their star. Juve’s stock is clearly going up.
Roma: UP
It hasn’t been Roma’s most consistent season but since Luciano Spalletti has inserted a winning mentality into his team once again, The Giallorossi are even fighting Napoli for second place in the Serie A standings, something no one could have predicted at the start of 2016.
Francesco Totti could finally leave the Roman club, which makes Roma vulnerable when it comes to leadership. However, Totti has not played a crucial part this season and has been relegated to a mentor role on the bench and in the locker room. Losing Miralem Pjanic, Radja Nainggolan, and/or Kostas Manolas would be much more harmful to Roma’s quest of winning their first Scudetto since 2001.
However, there’s reason to believe at least two of those players will stay and Roma will be able to do some work in the summer transfer market. If they can lure in a striker that can consistently score goals (maybe Diego Perotti could become that guy also), the Lupi are pretty hard to beat. It takes a minimum of 85 points to win the Serie A crown and apart from Juve, only Roma would be able to do it.
Napoli: DOWN
It has been a wonderful season for Napoli, who were able to stay close to Juventus until the Bianconeri grabbed a 1-0 home win against the Partenopei. Thank you Simone Zaza! Maurizio Sarri did wonders for Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higauin with his 4-3-3 line up and defensive coaching of Kalidou Koulibaly and Faouzi Ghoulam.
The Partenopei might have one of Europe’s best starting eleven, but they must address two issues. The first is Higuain. Will he stay or will he go? In all honesty, losing the Argentine would be devastating to Napoli. He’s pretty much irreplaceable, even if he’s sold for a big amount of money. Second, no Serie A top club is in need of more depth than Napoli. The Azzurri need to spend a lot to gain a crucial amount of depth in order to compete with Juventus and Roma at the top of the league.
Conclusion: If Napoli can keep Higuain, they are not in place to spend a ton of money. If they sell him, the Partenopei will suffer in his absence, despite being able to lure in some much needed bench quality. In other ways, Napoli’s stock is down as they clearly overachieved this season.
Inter: LEVEL
It’s easy to predict Inter’s performance next season: pretty much the same as this season. The Nerazzurri are a financial mess and there’s no end in sight at the moment. Therefore, Inter will probably sell a couple of their current star players in order to buy some new quality ones during the summer. Just like they did with Mateo Kovacic, to get Ivan Perisic for example.
This will only result in a mediocre season once again, as it will be almost impossible for Inter to improve their current squad’s strength and performances. Unless they find some cheap diamond in South America that rocks Serie A unexpectedly. But for now, Inter’s stock is stuck.
MILAN: UP
Spending a lot of money doesn’t always provides immediate results. Milan’s 2015/2016 has been a clear example of this reality. Carlos Bacca has been pretty great, Alessio Romagnoli has played awesome and Giacomo Bonaventura played very well all season long. But still, Milan are down in sixth place and in danger of losing it to Sassuolo…
Admittedly, the Rossoneri performed much better than last season and are expected to make another leap forward next season. But contending for the Scudetto? Hell no! In the best case, Milan will be able to fight for a Champions League spot and any bump in the road will relegate them to the Europa League. Still, the Diavolo have some intriguing talents and are expected to spend again during the summer. Their stock is rising, but not enough for now.
FIORENTINA: LEVEL
Last but not least, Fiorentina have been pretty good this season. The Viola started their campaign on a high note, before slipping when the season progressed. With a core of some exciting players like Nikola Kalinic, Josip Ilicic, Federico Bernardeschi, and Borja Valero, you can’t count out Fiorentina when it comes to competing for a spot in Europe next season.
But this team won’t be a contender for the Scudetto. They aren’t deep enough and can’t afford to spend big in order to lure in some star players. Their best summer move will be to keep their core intact and add depth.
An honest, frank and fair assessment by Vince in his first article for us.
Totally agree with all of those rankings, especially Roma going above Napoli. IF they lose Higuain, I suspect they may languish further down the table. An old friend of mine used to say Napoli can never last – that applies to matches and the season on the whole – And she was right. They fell way off the pace in the end.
Roma might be able to bring in some decent players and build on the squad they have. totally agree on Inter – same old same old, they will flatter to decieve with their clb so heavily in the red.
Milan are much the same, the management fail to see that they are the problem – too much interfering and changing of hands – They need to invest and look long-term with a coach that will be given the chance to build the team – instant results are impossible in Serie A…..unless you’re conte and you’re coaching Juve 😉
All in all, great work Vince !
Nice read! Much will depend on the Summer Mercato though, which is hard to analyse at this point, since it is yet to happen, haha!
I think it is fair to say Juve will strengthen again, hopefully with losing do many key players again.
For the sake of the league I hope Roma and Milan can make a serious jump in quality – not Napoli, fuck those guys.
Everything can change depending on the summer mercato. But let’s be honest: are Roma, Napoli, Inter, Milan and/or Fiorentina going to dominate Juventus with huge transfers? I don’t think so. If anything, Juve will make the gap larger.
Welcome to the community, Vince…An interesting, decent read leaving me looking forward to more of the same in your next contribution to the site.
I will largely reserve my predictions for next term for so much can change at Juve and the other clubs under focus who may be in contention for the scudetto. Who is to say that if we lost Morata and Pogba we could replace them adequately even with 130m? As much as I would like to believe we can pick up the ultra talented Armenian, he has more monied suitors in the Premiership and so he seems a stretch, presently. A lot of talk of Gomes, a player I knew nothing off until his name started popping up on tuttojuve on a daily basis after Claudio’s injury. If we can bring in a top drawer midfielder, retain our starlets, add a quality RB and roll the Berardi dice, we will be stronger still. And the champions league dream will take on more substance.
Milan’s future depends hugely on choosing the right manager, which has not been successful since Allegri was culled. They remain a shambles yet have at least improved a little on last season’s horror-show. It would be brilliant for the league to see Lippi make an about turn and take the role at AC with funds to restructure.
With the Totti fallout at Roma, big changes will be coming there and yet I have faith in Spalletti. Who has already brought about a consistency. With the Summer mercato and ritiro to make the squad more his own, they could well put together a very strong starting XI, which if kept fit, could challenge. There is also the possibility of selling the Belgian for huge money which will be reinvested.
Napoli, at present, have taken over as my most despised team due to the manner in which players, owner and management have comported themselves this season. Yet they have made sterling progress and why not continue eh?
Far too early to assume much other than we will have the strongest squad and will be favourites.
It seems to me that Roma are only lacking a star striker. That is, if they keep their current core of players together (Rudiger, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Digne, Salah and SES). Napoli are not going to do better than this season, unless they sell Higuain and get 2-3 very good players in return.
And I’m not even going to discuss the Milan teams here…