Another Serie A season starts up again on Saturday and calcio fans have a lot to look forward to.
Or do they?
The Times of Londonâs Oliver Kay went out of its way this past week to call Italyâs top flight âthe retirement home for Europeâs aging footballers.â
Wow! I know the English are not in love with the Italian game, but that comment was a bit harsh. It was also untrue.
Letâs start with what is true. Serie A has slipped in stature from when the likes of Diego Maradona played there in the late 1980s. What is also true is that there have been talented players since then â and theyâre not all has-beens.
Italian clubs didnât light up the summer transfer market (no teams in any league really did), but I wouldnât really call the players headed to Serie A âretirement homeâ material.
I know the cast of new imports whets my appetite. There will be loads of curiosity about whether Andriy Shevchenko and Ronaldinho (both at AC Milan this season) can return from a slump in form and energize crowds like they used to just a few seasons ago.
The excitement doesnât end there. Iâll be looking at Souleymane Muntari, the former Portsmouth midfielder who signed with Inter this summer, Olof Mellberg and Christian Poulsen (now at Juventus) and the return of Gianluca Zambrotta, who signed with AC Milan following a stint with Barcelona.
We all know the difficulties Italian soccer has had over the past three years. The league has brought most of it upon itself thanks to escalating fan violence and the Calciopoli scandal in 2006 that has left a bitter aftertaste with fans.
The smug English (who, by the way, chose an Italian in Fabio Capello to put their national team fortunes back on track) never enjoyed watching Serie A. The Premier League is a great league (I watch it on Fox Soccer Channel every Saturday), but I wouldnât write off Serie Aâs talent pool just yet.
Italian clubs remain a force at the European and world level (AC Milan are the reigning club world champs), particularly now that former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has his sights on leading Inter to a Champions League final.
Next time an English friend tries to argue the EPL is better than Serie A, remind him that Italy â not England â won the 2006 World Cup. And Italy did it with a roster of player who all played in Serie A. If thatâs âretirement homeâ level, then I can live with that comment just fine.
