Former Milan and Juventus coach Fabio Capello believes his former clubs will need time to build their sides, while Inter are ready to defend their Scudetto. Capello was writing in La Gazzetta dello Sport and gave his assessment of the 2024-25 title race, which he believes the Nerazzurri are still favourites for:
“The hunt for Inter is officially open. Yesterday, in fact, the first among the so-called “contenders” of the Nerazzurri, Milan, kicked off the 2024-25 season, with the presentation of the new coach Paulo Fonseca. The hot topic in the Rossoneri house remains, however, always that of the center forward. Having said goodbye to Olivier Giroud, who will arrive? The Portuguese coach said “a 9 capable of playing especially in the last 30 meters, even without spaces”. A somewhat ambiguous answer, because it lends itself to many interpretations. Certainly in the last third of the field both Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku, the most talked about profiles for Milan’s market, know their stuff. The Spaniard has some more associative skills, while the Belgian has an important physicality in the penalty area. Both, however, have goals in their feet and are used to wearing important shirts like the Rossoneri one.
Inter is already ready
The Marotta guarantee It’s early, however, to say that Milan will be up to Inter only with the purchase of an excellent center forward. The teams are still under construction, some have changed the technical guide, others do not yet know exactly how they will move in the market. In the case of Milan, which has not yet announced purchases, both things. The paradox is that the speech applies a bit to all the contenders, but not to the champions of Italy. Inter has changed ownership, but the guarantee is called Beppe Marotta, who has now become president of the club. A move, that of Oaktree, that I liked very much and guarantees continuity to the technical management, as well as economic, of the team. Moreover, it seems to me that Inzaghi can already count on some reinforcements: Taremi, Zielinski, Martinez… Maybe soon even Kim from Bayern Munich. Here, Inter is perhaps the only one among the greats to be made and finished already on July 9 and it is no small thing.
Juve very active
But in midfield something is missing Juventus is moving a lot right away, which has already added Di Gregorio, Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram. I believe that the goalkeeper was an explicit request from Thiago Motta: Di Gregorio is better with his feet than Szczesny and it seems to me the confirmation that the Italian-Brazilian coach wants to start often and willingly from the back. But it is especially in midfield that the new Juve must change pace, adding quality and… goals. Welcome Douglas Luiz and the little Thuram, now I expect the arrival of a total player like Koopmeiners. Here, the Dutchman from Atalanta would bring in dowry part of the goals that were missing last season. Will it be enough to compete with Inter? Calm down. I believe that something more is needed in attack anyway, also in light of the situation of Chiesa which does not seem to me very clear yet. There is then a consideration to be made on Rabiot: the Frenchman for a few days is no longer a Juventus player and if he should not return to being one in the coming weeks, the Bianconeri would lose a midfielder able to cover so much field as few others in Europe. We have seen it also with France at the European Championship, Rabiot has physicality and presence, he has a certain weight in midfield.
Napoli hanging on Osimhen
Roma a question mark An open construction site is also Antonio Conte’s Napoli. Everything revolves around Osimhen: will he really leave? And who will take his place? Lukaku is the simplest solution, for his relationship with the coach, built in the days of Inter. I think he can be a worthy heir to Osimhen, but in the background there is also the Kvaratskhelia issue: it seems to me that Conte has said loud and clear that the Georgian must remain, without ifs and buts. I hope he can be satisfied. Even more difficult to give a judgment on Roma: De Rossi has good ideas, but the team must be practically rebuilt and the hope is that the company works in tune with the coach, complying with his requests.”
