The Italian Football League will return, starting tomorrow, Saturday, with the start of the new season, after a season in which Napoli dominated greatly and a dim summer transfer market for most of the major clubs.
Napoli will visit Frosinone at the opening of the 2023-2024 season, while Inter Milan will host Monza, and Genoa will meet Fiorentina and Empoli with Hellas Verona during Saturday’s matches.
The confrontations continue on Sunday, with Udinese meeting Juventus, Roma with Salernitana, Sassuolo against Atalanta, and Lecce with Lazio, with the first round ending on Monday with Bologna meeting Milan and Turin with Cagliari.
In the following, we shed light on the top 5 new contracts concluded by first-class clubs for the 2023-2024 season:
Marcus Thuram (Inter)
Thuram follows in his father’s footsteps by moving to Italy and carries a major attacking responsibility on his shoulders, after joining the Champions League runners-up last season in a free deal last month.
The 26-year-old was born in Parma, where his father and French legend Lilian played for 5 seasons, and then won the European Cup and the Italian Cup in 1999, as part of a star-studded squad, most notably the retired legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Fabio Cannavaro.
Uno sguardo nel nostro spogliatoio 👀#ForzaInter #InterEgnatia pic.twitter.com/Y98ZUIZo71
— Inter (@Inter) August 13, 2023
With the departure of Bosnian Edin Dzeko and Belgian Romelu Lukaku this summer, Thuram – who scored 16 goals with Borussia Monchengladbach last season – will compete with Austrian Marco Arnautovic to reserve a place alongside Argentine Lautaro Martinez in the center of the attack.
Christian Pulisic (Milan)
USA star Pulisic will have some familiar faces from his old club Chelsea in Milan, joining Fikayo Tomori, France’s Olivier Giroud and England’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek in a club that is reinventing itself.
One of the club’s symbols, Paolo Maldini, was sacked along with sports director Frederic Massara in June, and the Lombardy team was able to conclude a series of contracts, benefiting from the proceeds of the sale of Sandro Tonali to Newcastle.
Welcome our new player: Christian Pulisic ✍️✅#MilanAlways 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/mBNgQhEqC0
– AC Milan Arab (@acmilanar) July 13, 2023
Pulisic will compete with Nigerian Samuel Chukwueze for the Rossoneri’s right-wing position, with Portuguese star Rafael Leao on the left, while veteran striker Giroud will lead the attack.
Matteo Retegui (Genoa)
Retigi made a quick start in Genoa, returning to the elite league, after moving from Argentine Boca Juniors last month, and scored two goals in the exciting victory in the Italian Cup competitions over Modena 4-3 on Friday.
The Argentine-born player will make his Serie A debut against Fiorentina on Saturday in a bid to secure his place as a starting striker in the Italy national team.
✍️ The firm of Retegui… 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/N9t2mjWiOB
— Genoa CFC (@GenoaCFC) July 26, 2023
The 24-year-old scored two goals against England and Malta, in his first 3 matches with the “Azzurri” after he chose to represent Italy a few months ago, and aims to keep his place in the European Cup 2024 next summer.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Milan)
Another Chelsea player chose Milan to revive his career, as England international Loftus-Cheek moved to San Siro to replace Tonali’s departure and aims to play a bigger role after years on the sidelines at the London club.
Loftus-Cheek made his way into Chelsea’s first team from the club’s academy in 2014, but despite his physical and technical abilities, he never became a regular fixture at his boyhood club.
Welcome our new player: Ruben Loftus-Cheek ✍️✅#MilanAlways 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/GCninIcBWI
– AC Milan Arab (@acmilanar) June 30, 2023
He is now following in the footsteps of Tomori, a graduate of the “Blues” academy, and will play a key role in one of the oldest clubs in Europe, as Milan reached the Champions League semi-finals last season, but he was far from the level that enabled him to win the league title in the 2021-2022 season.
Nathan (Naples)
With the prevailing tendency to extend the contract of Nigerian stars Victor Osimhen and Georgian Khvisha Kvaratskhelia, who played a key role in Napoli winning the league title, Napoli’s biggest problem was finding a replacement for South Korean defender Kim Min-jae, after the latter’s departure to Bayern Munich.
Bem-vindo, Nathan! 💪
💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/lEYIsJaMQw
– Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) August 7, 2023
The Brazilian Natan joined the southern team from the Brazilian Red Bull Bragantino, and the 22-year-old will face the challenge of filling the void of Kim, who is very popular with the Naples fans, after his brilliance last season.
