⚽️🇮🇹 King Kevin lands in Naples!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're looking at Napoli's blockbuster new signing, how Inter and Juventus fared at the Club World Cup, a meeting of GOATs, and much more.
👑 Napoli makes statement signing
One of the greatest midfielders of his generation has landed in Serie A! This week Napoli welcomed a landmark summer signing as Kevin De Bruyne arrived from Manchester City on a free transfer.
👏 The Belgian superstar won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and the Champions League during a glittering 10-year stay in Manchester, and twice won the Premier League Player of the Season award.
🇧🇪 He will find a familiar face at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in international teammate Romelu Lukaku, strengthening Antonio Conte’s attack ahead of the scudetto defense in 2025-26.
💬 “The team wants to win; they are ambitious. It looks like a really good team put together, so for me it was a really nice project to come into and hopefully I can help the team get their ambitions through,” De Bruyne said to Napoli’s social channels.
🍦 De Bruyne’s arrival was met with huge excitement in Naples, and the 33-year-old has already earned the admiration of the city’s gelaterie too: the ‘Kevin De Brownie’ flavor is already for sale!
💪 Napoli has been busy this week - it also confirmed the signing of young defender Luca Marianucci from Empoli. The 20-year-old made 18 Serie A appearances for the relegated Tuscan side in 2024-25.
🏆 Chivu makes Inter debut at Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is up and running across the United States, where Cristian Chivu took charge of Inter for the first time in Pasadena on Tuesday night.
⚽ Chivu’s debut as Inter coach ended with a 1-1 draw against Monterrey in Group E. Former Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos put the Mexican side ahead before Nerazzurri captain Lautaro Martínez finished off a well-worked team move to equalize before half-time.
🆕 Luis Henrique and Petar Sučić both made their Inter debuts from the bench at the Pasadena Rose Bowl - more on them and other new Serie A arrivals shortly…
🗣️ "I think we could have scored a second goal, which we didn't unfortunately," said Inter's Henrikh Mkhitaryan. "I think we have to be more aggressive in front of the goal. We need to score more goals. Even today, we had chances which we didn't score, unfortunately."
🏈 Ahead of the game, Mkhitaryan was involved in a Serie A/NFL crossover as the Inter midfielder swapped shirts with Los Angeles Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker!
👉 Next up for Inter is a trip north to Seattle’s Lumen Field for their second match of Group E, where they will face Japanese J1 League side Urawa Red Diamonds on Saturday at 3pm ET.
🦓 Five-star Juventus start Club World Cup in style
Juventus could not have hoped for a better start to their Club World Cup campaign, thrashing Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates 5-0 in Orlando on Wednesday night.
🔥 Randal Kolo Muani and Francisco Conceicao both scored braces for the Bianconeri, but it was Turkish sensation Kenan Yildiz who produced the goal of the night with a rasping effort from outside the area.
👏 Juve were 4-0 up by half-time and head coach Igor Tudor was unsurprisingly pleased with the performance. "There was lovely energy between the players, that desire to work hard for one another, to run for one another,” he said. “I felt that really came through, and I think the players felt that among themselves, too. We are going in the right direction.”
👕 In other Juve news, this week the club launched its new away kit, a jazzy blue number they say is “inspired by the Italian summer.” It didn’t take long for musician Swae Lee to model it in Miami!
👉 Next up for Juve is a Group G clash with Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca in Philadelphia on Sunday at 12pm ET.
🏆 Gattuso charged with leading Italy to World Cup
An Azzurri legend took the reins of the men’s national team this week when 2006 World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso was confirmed as commisario tecnico (CT).
🥇 The former AC Milan and Azzurri midfielder was a key part of Italy’s last World Cup triumph 19 years ago and will now look to lead the side in qualification to the 2026 edition, which will be hosted across the United States, Mexico, and Canada next summer.
🇮🇹 "Gattuso is a symbol of Italian football - the blue jersey is like a second skin for him. His motivations, his professionalism, and his experience will be fundamental to best face the upcoming commitments of the National Team," FIGC President Gabriele Gravina said in a statement.
🤞 Gattuso, who has previously had spells in charge of AC Milan and Napoli in Serie A, is now tasked with leading Italy back to the World Cup after missing out on qualification in 2018 and 2022.
📅 His first game as CT will be a qualifier against Estonia in Bergamo on September 5. Italy currently sits third in Group I on three points, nine behind leaders Norway, who have two games in hand.
🏃 Lazio’s Tavares takes on an Olympian!
Ever wondered what would happen if a Serie A star took on an Olympic long jumper in a 100-meter dash? We might be about to find out…
🤝 This week, it emerged that Lazio wing-back Nuno Tavares has accepted the challenge from his friend, world indoor champion long jumper Mattia Furlani.
🥉 Furlani, who won bronze at the Paris Olympic Games last summer, revealed the contest while speaking on Twitch this week after the pair developed a friendship in the Eternal City.
🏁 “Nuno Tavares told me he wants a challenge running 100 metres! It’s true, Nuno is a close friend of mine and I accepted, obviously,” Furlani said. “Now we are trying to organize everything.”
🇮🇹 Italy youngsters shine at U21 Euros
It has been a busy week at the youth level for the Italian national team, with the Azzurrini, or Italy Under-21s, making an impressive start to the European Championship in Slovakia.
👏 Carmine Nunziata’s side made a perfect start to the group stage with 1-0 wins over Romania and Slovakia, thanks to goals from Roma’s Tommaso Baldanzi and Torino midfielder Cesare Casadei, respectively.
🔥 That ensured their qualification to the quarter-finals with a game to spare. A 1-1 draw against Spain in the final Group A game on Tuesday night - where Roma’s Niccolò Pisilli scored a stunning equalizer - was not enough to clinch top spot, as Spain edged into first place via the goals scored tiebreaker.
🇩🇪 Next up for the Azzurrini? They face Group B winners Germany in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
💬 Calcio Conversations
This week, we take a closer look at Kevin De Bruyne’s new home of Naples - one of Italy’s true treasure troves and an essential stop for any visitor to Italy.
🤷♂️ What does Naples have to offer? The city is packed with historic sites, world-class eateries, and spectacular views, while world-famous spots like Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast are just a stone’s throw away. The question should really be: what doesn’t Naples have to offer?
🍴 What about the food? Naples is a culinary heavyweight and quite possibly home to the best pizza - and fried pizza - in the world. The pizzeria choices are endless, and it is hard to go wrong, but if you’re in the mood for something else, then consider a cuoppo of fried seafood or a sweet, rum-soaked babà.
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🐐 Social Post of the Week: A meeting of GOATs
Lionel Messi hailed Italy great Roberto Baggio as a “legend of football” after being presented with a shirt by the man many consider the Azzurri GOAT at the Club World Cup this week. What a combination they would have made…
🐺 Baggio also met with Roma’s Argentine stars Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.
💰 Calciomercato season has started!
It’s not just been about De Bruyne this week, as several clubs across Serie A have already announced additions to their squads for the new season…
👉 Inter got the ball rolling at the start of the month with a double signing. The aforementioned pair of Brazilian winger Luis Henrique and central midfielder Petar Sučić arrived from Olympique Marseille and Dinamo Zagreb, respectively.
💯 The deals have kept coming since: Como brought in Croatia international midfielder - and Sucic’s former Dinamo teammate - Martin Baturina on a five-year deal this week.
💎 Parma secured the signing of Argentinian midfielder Christian Nahuel Ordoñez from Velez Sarsfield, while Genoa got their mercato into gear with the capture of Romania national team captain Nicolae Stanciu.
👋 Going in the opposite direction was Serie A Best Midfielder award winner Tijjani Reijnders, who joined Manchester City from AC Milan in a bumper € 55 million deal.
🤝 The 2025 summer transfer window in Italy is open from July 1 to September 1. However, this year there was a special mini-window from June 1-10 to allow clubs to strengthen ahead of the Club World Cup.
👔 Gasperini targets Champions League for Roma
Gian Piero Gasperini faced the media for the first time as Roma coach this week, but elsewhere there are still five Serie A teams looking for new coaches.
🐺 Gasperini was quick to temper title expectations after his remarkable work at Atalanta. “The best result will be qualification to the Champions League. Right now, Roma can’t win the scudetto, but you never know,” he said.
⚽ Two of the newly promoted sides parted ways with their coaches this week as Filippo Inzaghi left Pisa and Giovanni Stroppa exited Cremonese. Inzaghi has since taken over as Palermo coach in Serie B.
🔍 At the time of writing, Lecce, Fiorentina, and Parma are also on the hunt for a new boss to bring them into the new campaign.
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