A Survival Guide for Watching Serie A in 14/15

This season's Serie A (probably) won't miss Mario Balotelli.

Image via Complex UK

For many football fans in the UK, Serie A was the first European league to become appointment viewing (thanks, Channel 4) and while the snowballing stories of cover-ups and corruption hasn’t done the reputation of Italian football any good, it’s still one of the world’s must-see leagues.

This year’s Serie A looks to be a truly open affair at the top and bottom of the table – something that can’t always be said for the heavily lauded La Liga or Bundesliga – with Juventus, Roma, Napoli and Inter Milan all able to boast squads of title-winning quality.

Here’s our survival guide for watching Serie A in 2014/15.

 

Here's how Serie A works

These are the biggest transfer stories in Italy this summer

Here’s a look at this year’s newly promoted teams

Serie A has the best history of any European league

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Here are the players set for a breakthrough year

Kingsley Coman is soon to become the most talked about talent in Serie A. The ‘new Paul Pogba’ turned down Arsenal and Liverpool to join up with the real Paul Pogba at Juventus after becoming PSG’s youngest ever player in 2013. Coman found minutes hard to come by at PSG last season but he’s dazzled in France’s youth set-up, where’s been capped at every level through to U21s and scored 5 goals.

At only 20-years-old, it’s impressive that Albanian left back Elseid Hysa has racked up 66 first team appearances for Empoli but this will be his first season in Italy’s top flight and it’s a chance to turn promise into proven ability at the highest level. The powerful defender was tracked by Lazio last year and he’ll be key to Empoli’s chances of Serie A survival.

The Torneo di Viareggio is one of the most prestigious youth tournaments in world football and this year, Parma starlet Alberto Cerri took the tournament by complete surprise. He scored six goals as Parma made their way to the quarter finals, earning him the Golden Boy trophy (previously won by new Borussia Dortmund star Ciro Immobile). Cerri’s rise to prominence won’t happen overnight but expect to see him make his mark in Serie A as the season goes on.

Here’s what the bookies say

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