Serie A: 15 Storylines to Follow in Italy This Season

The 2012-13 Serie A season kicks off next weekend, and as 20 teams prepare to challenge for the Scudetto, storylines abound throughout Italy.

Juventus won the league last season but enter the current campaign with the cloud of scandal hanging over the club. Napoli won the Italian Cup, but one of the team's best attackers left town for greener pastures.

Will either be able to repeat? Will new challengers emerge?

Read on for 15 storylines to watch this season in the Italian Serie A.

Juventus won the Scudetto last season, going through the entire league campaign unbeaten and edging AC Milan by four points atop the table.

The Bianconeri relied on a stout defense (20 goals conceded in 38 matches, best in the league) and a superb midfield featuring former AC Milan maestro Andrea Pirlo.

If anything, the team had only one weakness: the lack of a star striker to lead the attack. Juventus scored a respectable 68 goals (compared to Milan's 74), but no player scored more than Alessandro Matri's 10 league strikes.

Juventus have been linked with Arsenal's Dutch forward Robin van Persie (30 league goals last season) this summer (Daily Mail), but so far no deal has materialized.

More recently, the Bianconeri have shown interest in Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente (ESPNSoccernet).

Either striker would represent a solid addition to the squad and would help Juventus' chances for a repeat.

All things being equal, Juventus should be favored to retain the Scudetto. But as we'll see, all things are not necessarily equal.

Another match-fixing scandal has hit Italy and Juventus. This time, though, Juventus are not directly implicated.

Not that it's good news for the champions.

Juventus manager Antonio Conte received a 10-month ban last week (BBC Sport) for his alleged failure to report match-fixing activities when he managed Siena in 2010-11. Conte will not be allowed to manage his team from the touchline at any point this season if the ban is upheld after appeal.

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been quoted as saying the ban will negatively affect Juventus, but at least one rival coach thinks the ban is not stringent enough.

Conte's absence will affect Juventus this season, whether or not he can have contact with the team on non-match days.

But will that keep the Bianconeri from retaining the league title?

AC Milan sold two prized assets this summer, shipping Brazilian defender Thiago Silva and Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to big-spending Paris Saint-Germain.

The Rossoneri brought in Riccardo Montolivo and Bakaye Traore to bolster the midfield, but losing Silva and Ibrahimovic in the same summer could damage Milan's title chances.

Milan's defense looked old and slow in a recent 5-1 friendly defeat to Real Madrid in New York, and the offense huffed and puffed while trying to keep up with Real's high-powered attack.

Fortunately, Milan won't have to face Real in Serie A, but the Rossoneri are looking like a shell of the side that challenged for the title last season.

According to billionaire AC Milan owner and ex-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the sales of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahiomvic were driven by the need to save money.

"Yes, I've sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva to PSG," he said in the aftermath of the deals (ESPNSoccernet). "We will save €150 million over two years."

According to super-agent Ernesto Bronzetti, Kaká almost certainly will not move from Real Madrid to AC Milan because "in Italy it’s impossible to pay €10 million net wages." (Goal.com).

Noticing a pattern?

AC Milan traditionally have been one of Italy's biggest spenders. The Rossoneri have not spent much this summer, and they're not alone among the big Serie A clubs.

Juventus haven't been able to lure Robin van Persie to Turin. As a whole, the Italian economy is in recession (BBC News).

So are all these factors the signs that Italy's drawing power is on the decline? Or is this summer only an aberration?

Another troubling sign for Serie A was the overall failure of its clubs last season in Europe.

No Italian club reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League (only AC Milan reached the quarters), and Udinese were eliminated in the Europa League's round of 16.

Italy's last Champions League title came courtesy of Inter Milan in 2010, but with Jose Mourinho long gone from the Nerazzurri, that seems like decades ago.

Inter did not qualify for this season's Champions League, and unless Juventus, Milan or Udinese produce a run this season, Italy's European problem is probably destined to continue.

Inter Milan endured a mostly miserable 2011-12 campaign.

The Nerazzurri played poorly enough to have two managers sacked and finished sixth after an awful start—well outside the Champions League spots.

Even so, the end of the season saw the start of a turnaround under young manager Andrea Stramaccioni (age 36). Victory in a late-season Milan Derby dented AC Milan's title chances, and even after all their struggles, Inter contended for Champions League qualification until the final weeks of the campaign.

The Nerazzurri will play in the Europa League this season (provided they can beat Romanian club FC Vaslui in the playoff round), and after the disappointments of last season, almost anything would be a success.

Unlike Inter, Napoli enjoyed a satisfying 2011-12 campaign.

Playing in manager Walter Mazzarri's daring 3-4-3 system, Napoli thrilled fans and neutrals with flowing, attacking football.

The excitement resulted in a Coppa Italia title and a run to the Champions League knockout phase, where they defeated eventual champions Chelsea 3-1 in a round-of-16 first-leg match.

This season, Ezequiel Lavezzi is off to big-spending Paris Saint-Germain (sound familiar?), but two of the attack's big three remain in Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik.

With Mazzarri's tactical expertise and some more attacking flair, Napoli could be poised for more success this season.

A four-man group led by American entrepreneur Thomas DiBenedetto became the majority owners of AS Roma last November. Immediately, DiBenedetto promised big things for the Giallorossi (ESPNSoccernet).

His first full chance to deliver comes this season.

Roma added a bit more American flavor this summer with the signing of midfielder Michael Bradley from Chievo Verona. Other summer additions include Italian defender Federico Balzaretti and striker Mattia Destro (on loan from Genoa).

The existing squad already had quality with midfielder Daniele De Rossi and forward Francesco Totti. But Totti is way past the wrong side of 30, and De Rossi is close.

Roma seem to be heading in the right direction, but will the progress be noticeable this season?

Lazio have impressed at times the past two seasons, with crafty Brazilian playmaker Hernanes pulling the strings in midfield.

Hernanes has been linked with a number of teams for months now, but he appears set to stick with Lazio for another season (Daily Mirror).

Lazio finished fourth last season, just two points behind Udinese for Italy's third and final Champions League spot. The previous season, they finished fifth, level on points with Udinese but out of the final Champions League spot on goal difference.

Could this be the year Lazio break through?

Fiorentina finished 13th in Serie A last season. It was their worst league position since 2004-05, their first season back in the top flight.

Even worse, manager Delio Rossi was sacked after attacking midfielder Adem Ljajic (who remains with the team) after Ljajic openly dissented to being substituted from a match.

New manager Vincenzo Montella reportedly has changed things quite a bit. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Montella has introduced a new "code of conduct" for players (Football-Italia.net).

The code includes strictures on earrings, head bands and too-short shorts. Players must also follow a curfew during preseason camp.

Say this much for Montella: It's an interesting approach. But will it work?

Udinese finished fourth in 2010-11 and earned a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds. Following the season, Alexis Sanchez departed for Barcelona and Gokhan Inler joined Napoli.

No matter. Udinese went one better and finished third in 2011-12, again earning a spot in the Champions League qualifiers.

This summer, Mauricio Isla and Kwadwo Asamoah joined Juventus, but top scorer Antonio Di Natale is still around.

Di Natale, who serves as club captain, led Serie A in scoring in both 2009-10 and 2010-11. He added 23 more league strikes last campaign.

Udinese have lingered around the coattails of the league leaders the last few seasons. Could this be the season they take the next step, or will they regress?

Italy made a surprising run to the Euro 2012 final this summer. The team was made up almost entirely of Serie A players.

Naturally, the league will form the backbone of the team again this fall and into next spring as the Azzurri move into World Cup 2014 qualification.

Can manager Cesare Prandelli keep the success coming?

Pescara won promotion to Serie A by winning Serie B last season. This will be Pescara's first foray into the top flight in 20 years.

Up-and-coming midfield playmaker Marco Verratti has joined big-spending Paris Saint-Germain (sound familiar?), so Pescara must reload quickly.

Can they survive without Verratti, or was the 19-year-old only a minor part of last season's success?

Torino finished second in Serie B last year and earned promotion back to the top flight.

That means the Turin Derby is back this season, and that's good news for fans of traditional Italian rivalries.

But Torino will have bigger concerns than beating Juventus this season. Survival must be the club's top goal.

Sampdoria—another team with plenty of traditional football cred—finished only sixth last season in Serie B. But the Genoa-based club got hot at the right time and won the playoffs to earn a spot in Serie A this season.

Maxi Lopez is a name most onlookers will recognize, but it's hard to say whether Sampdoria will have enough quality in the squad to survive the return to Serie A.

We'll find out soon enough.

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