2025-26 Serie A Preview

Pisa, Lecce, and Cremonese are going back to Serie B. Cagliari is the only other club with a realistic chance of getting demoted. Unless injury or scandal cause something major and unforeseen to happen, that’s how the bottom of the table shakes out. Pisa and Cremonese have no business being in Serie A to begin with. I’m sure they’re fine cities, with fine fan bases. In what universe would either be able to amass enough points to stay up? Nothing wrong with Serie B, but some clubs have to go down. Verona is the only other one I’m not sure about, but I am more sure of them than any of the other four mentioned.

Despite being cash-rich and having had recent success, Atalanta is going to finish in the bottom half. Gasperini is gone. He was the direct cause of Atalanta overachieving. Udinese, Parma, and Sassuolo are going to be in the bottom half, too. Bologna, too. The days of Thiago Motta seem like an epoch ago. Como and Torino are both going to be mid table, too. They’re both interesting and not to be underestimated, but they’re not giant killers. Lazio finishes above them, but they are coasting on fumes. Fiorentina are a class above Lazio but will not qualify for European competitions. The annual question is which of Fiorentina’s players will shine well enough to be bought by a bigger club?

On to the bigger clubs. AC Milan is a strong side on paper, but the results haven’t matched the talent of the roster. They pushed Maldini out and Zlatan seems to be a weird figurehead whose role needs to be clearly defined. Allegri could be the missing piece. He might not be the flashiest, but he wins. I think there is a real chance they’ll figure out a way to add Dusan Vlahovic, and maybe figure out how to get productivity out of him. Even if they don’t, Allegri has a decent squad with which he can win. They aren’t winning the league, but they aren’t going to be the awful side that has struggled in recent times. Not with Mad Max at the helm. Plus, age aside, Luka Modric can still kick a ball around with the best of them.

I don’t understand the project at Juventus. They seem to be less of a financial mess, but their board and sporting leadership are big question marks. Even if Jonathan David is the Canadian Pele, Juve still needed to add more key players. They also needed to do addition by subtraction. Instead, Igor Tudor has more or less the same group of dudes and duds from a year ago. Much like quarterbacks, if you have two keepers, you really have zero. Juve’s got two, so… Bremer, Kalulu, and Gatti are all good defenders who have basically never played together for a full season. Rugani seems to be back. Lloyd Kelly is one of those addition by subtraction guys who is somehow still around. I would have loved to have seen Sandro Tonali and Raspadori join up. Seems highly unlikely at best. I just don’t understand the project, it seems like treading water for the sake of treading water. Which is fine, if the finances are still woof’d. But nobody is going to admit that. I’ll never completely count them out, but I wouldn’t bet on the black and white stripes. Juve finish somewhere between 1st and 4th.

Inter are old. They’re going to try to run it back. They didn’t even win the league last year, so good luck running it back when everyone has one more year on them. They’ll probably qualify for the 2026-27 Champions League. They’re old, but not that old. They’re good, but not Scudetto good. I could see them winning the Coppa d’Italia.

Kevin de Bruyne joined Napoli. The man is a world-beater when he puts on a light blue shirt. Antonio Conte is ready to win another title. The best team in Italy a year ago is better. Inter and Juve are stagnant at best. All the momentum is on their side. The Scudetto is theirs to lose. Certainly stranger things have happened, but Napoli is the side to beat. They could take it wire to wire. McSauce played like Pirlo. Really for the first time since Maradonna, Napoli are good enough to cause opponents to lose sleep. But don’t hand them the crown just yet.

Gasperini went to Roma. The only man who could challenge Conte for best coach in Italy is in the capital. He’s not getting any younger, so that win now mentality has to be present. A quarter century has passed since Totti conquered Italy. It could happen again. Roma have the talent and the tactical genius of a great coach. If anyone is going to catch Napoli with their pants down, AS Roma are going to be spoilers. Then again, the transfer window isn’t completely shut. Maybe Vlahovic goes somewhere. Maybe Neymar goes to Juve. As is, Gasperini vs. Conte for the Scudetto.