Who Will Win Serie A This Season?

This weekend saw the return of Serie A, so I thought that I would take a look at the teams likely to challenge for the title, and see whether anyone can knock Juventus off the top spot that has been theirs for several years now.

Juventus

Let's start with the defending champions and the favourites to add another title to the trophy cabinet, Juve. Over the summer they have reinforced with the signings of Carlos Tevez from Manchester City and Fernando Llorente from Athletic Bilbao. Both these strikers had fallen out of favour at their respective clubs (Llorente mainly because of his insistence that he wanted to leave and would not sign a new contract). Both are still highly respected and are of international quality, who can certainly help find the back of the net for the Bianconeri this season.

They have retained the core of the team that was so strong last year - which included plenty of Italian regular - such as Buffon, Chiellini, Pirlo and Marchisio. The emerging talent of Paul Pogba also seems to be getting better every season, and Manchester United fans will probably be wishing that he had stayed at Old Trafford. 

They are favourites for a reason, and my tip to win the league again, but they shouldn’t get too complacent because there are plenty of challengers to contend with.

Napoli

Rafa Benitez has taken over as manager and has set about spending big in an attempt to cope with both a domestic season and a Champions League campaign. The £55m received from PSG for Edinson Cavani has been invested in Gonzalo Higuain, Raul Albiol, Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens, whereas Pepe Reina has also joined on a season long loan deal and has been reunited with his former Liverpool manager.

The side looks strong on paper, but whether Benitez can get the new signings to gel quickly and perform as a team is another matter. It will be interesting to see how they cope with a second consecutive season in the Champions League and if they can meet the ever increasing expectations of their demanding fans and president. Juventus will be watching their matches with interest and might suspect that they are the most serious threat to the title.

Inter

Last season was disastrous for the former treble winners as they failed to even qualify for the Europa League. The only positive to take from this is that they can solely concentrate on the league this year and several under-performing individuals will have received a wakeup call as Walter Mazzarri arrived to take charge after guiding Napoli to 2nd place last season with Napoli. Financial issues have seen numerous cutbacks over the past couple of seasons and Massimo Moratti appears to be looking to step aside as chairman and let someone else invest in the club that he has led since 1995.

Milan

Mario Yepes and Massimo Ambrosini have left the club, which lowers the average age of what was once an elderly squad, and Max Allegri will be hoping that the blossoming Mario Balotelli can form a devastating attacking partnership with Stephan El Shaarawy this season to fire Milan into title contention.

They don't yet seem to be the finished article but they are certainly working hard behind the scenes to refresh and invigorate a side that desperately needed a makeover. If they can hit the ground running and build up some momentum then they could be the side to watch out for this season. Last year they managed to defeat Barcelona in the Champions League when everyone had written them off and if they can add some consistency to their play then there is no reason why they can't knock Juventus off the top.

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