The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped the format of the 2020/21 Serie A campaign, extending the start date to September 19, 2020 and already forcing several players to miss games due to Covid-19 infections.
During the nine-month season, which ends on May 23, 2021, groups rarely take a break to play or travel. Juventus, Inter, Atalanta and Lazio, who stop on the pitch on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
The new format has added unpredictability to the Serie A season, which has caused last year’s scudetto contenders to fall behind in qualifying for clubs with much lower expectations. – finished sixth, eighth and seventh respectively in the 2019/20 campaign.
Seeing Milan, Sassuolo and Napoli in the most sensitive of the rankings is also unexpected when it is said that they are not economic superpowers in Italian football: according to a report through Gazzetta dello Sport, the sum of the expenses of those 3 clubs in player salaries (230 million euros) is lower than that of Juventus (236 million euros) , the team that dominates the Serie A landscape for nine years.
Even if only seven games have passed, it is imaginable to identify the reasons why Milan, Sassuolo and Napoli have enjoyed good fortune so far during the 2020/21 Serie A season.
Milan are lately at the most sensitive point in the Serie A standings with five wins, two draws and 0 losses. The rossoneri are one of three teams, along with Juventus and Sassuolo, who remain undefeated this season.
Milan has not only completed the last window of movement with a positive balance of 35 million euros, but maintains a relatively low value on its payroll this year, especially compared to other Serie A clubs with open scudetto ambitions: Milan spends 90 million euros on salaries, which puts Juventus (236 million euros) and Inter (149 million euros) well.
World-class striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Italian national team goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma are by far the largest revenue in Milan, with 7 million euros and 6 million euros respectively. Ibrahimovic and Donnarumma, whose contracts will expire on 30 June 2021, are represented through Mino Raiola, the top shrewd agent in the World of European Football. This is the explanation for why the gap between them and the other Milan players is very wide: the top 3rd winner on the rossoneri list, the Ante Rebio winger and Captain Alessio Romagnoli. they also don’t have a salary of 3. 5 million euros.
In the field, the rossoneri obviously clicked last summer, recording an impressive series of 19 Serie A effects since the June reboot. All Milan players, who are on average the youngest age (24. 9) on all Serie A lists according to Transfermarkt data, appear to have fully adhered to the football concepts of coach Stefano Pioli.
In Pioli’s 4-2-3-1, Milan continued to show maximum intensity in the offensive and defensive stages of the match, with recent statistics showing the top speed shown through the young team of Pioli. La Gazzetta dello Sport revealed that Milan led Serie A. in total tackles (365) and time in aerial duels and the number of centres granted to the opponent.
There were doubts about the Emilia-Romagna club’s ability to bring consistency to last summer’s convincing performances. Seven games this season, Neroverdi is currently in the Serie A table with a 4-3-0 record, is tied for First Place in goals scored with 18 and third place for the highest percentage of ball possession only Inter and Juventus.
The pay bill in Sassuolo is very modest: at only 35 million euros, it is the eighth lowest in Serie A. Sassuolo’s highest-paid player, Domenico Berardi, earns a net salary of 1. 8 million euros, while Francesco Caputo, last season most sensible scorer with 21 goals, receives less than 1 million euros/year.
Sassuolo has mastered his formation 4-2-3-1, his two extremes being experts in facing the opponent in one-on-one situations. In addition, Sassuolo’s exciting taste for football is in an organization of Italian players: Berardi, Caputo and midfielder Manuel Locatelli, recently called up for the Italian national team.
It is true that this year, Sassuolo has not yet played in any of the big 7 groups, with the exception of Napoli, which he beat 2-0. However, the paintings of the undoubtedly exceptional technician Roberto De Zerbi, such as him capable of achieving convincing effects with far fewer monetary resources than the top rivals of Serie A.
After Napoli failed to play Juventus in the fourth of October, Lega Serie A awarded Partenopei a 3-0 forfeit loss and a penalty point in qualifying. (Today, Napoli deserves to appeal this decision, hoping to recover. penalty point and deferring the opposite adjustment to the bianconeri. ) Despite these misreachers, Gennaro Gattuso’s team is 3rd with 1 four points.
Among the clubs ranked in the 3 most sensitive, Napoli recorded the highest player’s pay turnover this 2020/21 Serie A season with 105 million euros, however, it is fourth in the overall standings, only seven million euros as a third Serie A payer. Rome, whose payroll is 112 million euros.
Kalidou Koulibaly, the Senegalese central defender who had been connected to Manchester City in the last play window, is the biggest winner on the Partenopei list with 6 million euros, behind him is the Naples native and Captain of Naples, Lorenzo Insigne, lately with 4. 6 million euros.
Napoli benefited greatly from the summer incorporation of Victor Osimhen, the top face play in the club’s 70 million euro history. A physically structured centre forward, the 21-year-old Nigerian is already appearing in football with the cunning Napoli players wandering low or with him on the field, such as Insigne, Dries Mertens, Matteo Politano and Hirving Lozano.
Napoli, who plays interestingly in a 4-2-3-1 like Milan and Sassuolo, will score goals in other ways, as evidenced by the fact that his top prolific offensive player, Lozano, has only 4 of the team’s 15 overall goals. Not relying on a single man to score goals will likely contribute to Napoli’s merit in a season in which proximity to matches, as well as coronavirus infections, will force players to use heavy team rotations and turn soft tissue injuries into a genuine threat.
I am from Riva Del Garda, Italy, graduated from Duke University and am a professional footballer with North Carolina FC in the United States.
I am from Riva Del Garda, Italy, graduated from Duke University and am a professional footballer from North Carolina FC in the United States. A podcast and sometimes I offer full-color observations in PLA and Serie A matches. I also like Stay on the blog of a team in which I introduce the professional players of NCFC and NC Courage. As calcium and fantasy, passionate, I would not be faithful to myself if I did not wake up at 6 a. m. every Sunday to attend the start of the Serie A match.