Milan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Aug, 2024) are heavy favourites to retain their Serie A title ahead of their opening match of the coming season at on Saturday, as their Scudetto rivals rebuild under new coaches. Simone Inzaghi's side cruised to a 20th league crown last term and, while the summer has brought a host of changes elsewhere, little has yet happened to suggest a clear challenger to Inter's supremacy. Change of ownership to US investment fund Oaktree, who took control of the club in after previous owners Suning defaulted on a huge , had initially suggested a period of uncertainty and potential upheaval.
Instead Oaktree kept on sporting and corporate CEOs Giuseppe Marotta and Alessandro Antonello -- also making Marotta club president -- and pushed ahead with important contract renewals which ensure on-pitch stability. Inzaghi and star midfielder Nicolo Barella have both signed new deals which commit their futures to the club while captain and last season's Serie A scorer Lautaro Martinez has extended his contract until 2029. Meanwhile Marotta has worked the free agent angle to bolster and midfield with Mehdi Taremi and Piotr Zielinski as Oaktree to stabilise the accounts of a financially leaky club.
- change - Inter are settled, which is more than can be said for their rivals, in particular who will be an unknown quantity under Paulo Fonseca. They have, however, kept hold of star men Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez and have signed Alvaro Morata as Olivier Giroud's replacement. are overhauling their team after hiring Thiago Motta, and travelled to 's friendly defeat to without out-of-favour Federico Chiesa, Wojciech Szczesny, Weston McKennie, Arkadiusz Milik and Filip Kostic.
were regulars under Motta's predecessor Massimiliano Allegri but are on the transfer list as the new boss promises a more fluid, less defensive style of and a demanding fan base demands a title challenge. Juve have brought in Luiz Aston Villa for over 50 and Khephren Thuram, who joins his older brother Marcus in returning to the country of his birth by signing for the club where his father Lilian won two Serie A titles. Motta will have to wait to have his full line-up available to him as Juve push to sign Teun Koopmeiners Atalanta and Fiorentina winger Nicolas Gonzalez.
The 41-year-old former midfielder is one of 13 managerial changes to take place since the end of last season, with just two 10 teams -- Inter and Europa League winners Atalanta -- to have the as at the start of the last campaign. - comeback - Juve begin life under Motta on Monday with the of ambitious , who were dumped out of the Italian Cup by Sampdoria ahead of their first Serie A season in over two decades. , managed by former , and midfielder Cesc Fabregas, have been busy in the summer trying to build a team which can stay up after flying through the divisions since being bought by tobacco giant Djarum five years ago.
Mega-rich owners, an impressive marketing campaign and the beautiful lakeside location of their stadium have helped bring in the likes of Raphael Varane and former full-back Alberto Moreno. Napoli, at on , have frozen out unsettled Victor Osimhen to maintain team spirit under new Antonio Conte who will to the 2023 champions back a disastrous title defence which left them without European for the first time since 2010. "Victor wants to leave.
.. he's a good player but we need to protect the harmony of the group," said Napoli's sporting director Giovanni Manna ahead of Saturday's penalty shootout win over in the Italian Cup.
Conte described his first official match in charge of Napoli, which finished goalless, as a "reality check" and urged the club to strengthen his squad, with a complicated swap of Osimhen with 's perennial want-away striker Romelu Lukaku reportedly in the works..
