Fabio Capello is already looking ahead to the new Serie A season and believes Inter are still the favoutites: “If the season were to start today, Inter would still be the super favorite for the title.” The former Milan and Juve coach was speaking with La Gazzetta dello Sport about the 2024-25 campaign, which sees new managers in place for the Rossoneri, Milan, Juventus and Napoli:
“Inzaghi starts in pole position. Inter is strong and has added two important players for free like Taremi and Zielinski. And unlike Milan and Juventus, they restart with the same coach. It’s not a small advantage, especially at the beginning. The only problem for the Nerazzurri could be feeling too good given that they dominated the last championship.”
The Milan derby is on the fifth matchday and in the same round Napoli faces Juve. Will it already be an indicative juncture?
“We’ll be in September, but something will start to be understood about the values and prospects of Juventus, Milan and Napoli.”
Juventus is the one changing the most: feelings?
“Thiago Motta is implementing a revolution and Giuntoli seems equally determined. I’m curious about Thuram Jr, the brother of Inter’s Marcus: I coached father Lilian and he spoke well of his “little one” too. Too bad about Calafiori: he has great personality and would have been useful to Motta. I expect to see Yildiz as a starter after the Euros. The start of the market is encouraging, but we’ll have to see if between purchases and sales the Bianconeri will be able to strengthen as they have planned. Now Inter remains stronger. You can change ideas, but at Juve they expect results. The same applies to the Milan teams.”
Fonseca’s Milan starts against Torino.
“A nice test, tough. On the third there’s Lazio, on the fifth the derby with Inter: what a start… All the more reason for Fonseca, already put on the grill by fans. It’s striking to see the Rossoneri without Italians in the possible starting eleven. Milan must restart from Maignan, Theo and Leao. The base is there, but they need to add a good striker to fight with Inter for the Scudetto.”
Better Zirkzee, Lukaku or Morata?
“I would always take Zirkzee. The Dutchman has talent, is young and can do a bit of everything. It’s just strange to me to always see him on the bench at the Euros.”
And Lukaku?
“He would do well at Milan and also at Napoli if they sell Osimhen. De Laurentiis’ big coup was Conte. Antonio is the most successful coach of the 20 in Serie A, he arrives in a hot place, with an ambitious but complicated president. He will have to be good at reigniting the players’ hunger. To understand the role Napoli will have, I await the end of the market: Kvara shifts the balance.”
What do you expect from Gasperini’s Atalanta after the triumph in the Europa League?
“They return to the Champions League and are gearing up to do well both in the league and in Europe. Gasp is a guarantee. And like Inzaghi, he starts with the advantage of already knowing the team well. De Rossi’s Roma still seems to me a work in progress.” If you were coaching a big Serie A team, which player from the Euros would you consider? “The Turk Yilmaz. But I hope Italian coaches have grasped the main lesson from the Euros: more vertical football and less useless ball possession.”
