Serie A: 2021 summer window and the lessons within

Serie A: 2021 summer window and the lessons within - Serie A lost Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku to the Premier League

 

Will Jose Mourinho be the X-Factor in the title race this season in the Serie A? (Photo credit: Sky Italia)

You don’t really know how brotherhood works in Italy, a player can cross from Inter Milan to AC Milan without flinching, score and celebrate barefaced right in front of the fans that used to sing his name, right there in Italy, no hard feelings!

The summer window closed on Tuesday night and not many teams would feel as lucky as Inter Milan yet not many would feel hard done as the reigning champions.

They were humble in victory, knew their books don’t look appealing and they won’t be able to sustain salary payments, they had to let go of top stars including Romelu Lukaku who returned to Chelsea where we first took note of him.

Hakan Cahalnoglu signed for free from cross city rivals AC Milan and he has hit the ground running.

Inter Milan lost Achraf Hakimi to PSG’s mega project and brought in Dumfries off the Dutchman’s impressive showing at the Euros, and speaking of the continental championship, Inter lost Eriksen as well.

The Dane was stretchered off having collapsed in Denmark’s opening game against Finland and wasn’t part of the heroic team that fired on till the semis.

Inter however brought in veteran striker Edin Dzeko to replace the big Belgian that left for Chelsea.

Let’s talk about the former champions Juventus, the big news for them and the entire league is the loss of top forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

The decision of the 5 time Ballon d'Or winner to leave was not surprising but you won’t be wrong to conclude he left in search of the spotlight again.

All was growing cold for the Portuguese and with Lionel Messi big in the news for his move from Barcelona to PSG, Ronaldo need to put himself out there and there’s no better way to do it than to return to where the beautiful script started – Old Trafford.

Juventus struck a deal for Manuel Locatelli who also fed off his Euro success and they also got Moise Kean back from his spell at Everton.

What does Ronaldo’s move to England mean to the Serie A?

There’s an immediate loss of revenue for Juventus and the La Liga brand equity dropped instantly, same as it affected Barcelona when Messi left to the advantage of PSG, Ronaldo won’t care about that as Manchester United are now reaping the gains.

Juventus will struggle this season and the only reason they will be in the title race this term will be down to the tinkering of their manager Max Allegri, the squad is weakened by age and also by the obvious absence of Ronaldo.

Step forward AC Milan, they’re building something and they will have to be patient for them to get to the very top again.

Tiemoue Bakayoko joined from Chelsea and not much in terms of real additions, they were able to keep their core but they will certainly miss Calhanoglu.

Roma signed a marquee manager, Jose Mourinho joined at the tail end of last season and he has been able to add Tammy Abraham from Chelsea to his forward line to replace the departed Dzeko.

There were lots of outgoings at Atalanta and that will really count against them, from Romero that left for Spurs to Salvatore Elia that left for Perugia and a host of others, it will be a long season for them especially if they pick injuries to key players.

There’s an outside chance for Lazio this season, they have bought well and also held on to Ciro Immobile and Sergei Milinkovic Savic. 

Fiorentina will flatter to deceive but that’s where it ends, for a small but ambitious club like Parma, where does the exit of Gervinho leave them?

The Serie A will be keenly contested this term, it’s anyone’s to take.