Predictions - top leagues plus Euro comps

England

Champion- Liverpool

CL- Man City, Spurs, Chelsea

Europa/Conference- Arsenal, Man Utd, West Ham

Relegation- Bournemouth, Fulham, Leicester/Wolves

Top part of the table is straightforward. Liverpool have a better squad now and City won't have the same hunger in the league. I don't see ten Hag having THAT massive an impact this season, and Arsenal have to deal with quality depth issues compared to the others. I know putting two teams for the last relegation spot is a cop out. The thinking is both were horrible last season and should've been lower in the table than they were, plus I don't see all three promoted teams going down. The other choices were Brentford, Everton, Leeds, and Southampton. I've seen lots of people picking the latter three, as somehow Brentford are just assumed to be midtable all of a sudden. Everton are bad, Lampard is not a good coach, and DCL injury isn't great, but something tells me they'll stay up again. Leeds I think will have enough, and I'm biased as an American with they guys they have now. That leaves Southampton, who definitely are looking sketchy. I like the youth project thing, but that does usually mean inconsistency, which has already been a problem in recent years. Also, out of Leicester and Wolves it would be the latter, if I had to pick just one. This is for fun anyway.

Germany

Champion- Bayern (shock)

CL- Dortmund, Leipzig, Union

Europa/Conference- Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, Gladbach

Relegation- Koeln (playoff), Bochum, Bremen

Nothing super interesting, other than maybe Union for the last CL spot. I don't have any particular reason for that, other than I can see Leverkusen struggling a bit if they take that competition seriously. Also, Wirtz had that injury and Schick is probably due for a regression. I'm also banking on Pefok coming in and doing better than Awoniyi, which is unlikely but still possible. This is honestly me being contrarian, and Leverkusen will be quite upset if they don't get top four. In the fight the other European places it's going to be some combo of the ones I listed plus Frankfurt, Freiburg, Hoffenheim, and Mainz. Frankfurt are in the Leverkusen boat with much less quality depth. Freiburg are in Europa, plus lost Schlotterbeck (did replace him with Ginter, tbf), while I could definitely see either of the other two making it to Europe with just the league to focus on. Relegation is a crapshoot. Augsburg are always picked, but somehow survive. Koeln are in the conference, hence why I picked them, although that's my Bundesliga club. Hertha are still a mess, so they'll be around there. It would've been boring to pick Schalke, though they're obviously newly promoted and will have survival as their goal. Stuttgart is the last one, though I don't see things being more messed up than last season, and they still stayed up.

Italy

Champion- Inter

CL- Milan, Juve, Lazio

Europa/Conference- Napoli, Atalanta, Roma

Relegation- Cremonese, Lecce, Salernitana

Inter have the best squad, and they should've won last season. Juventus are still being held back by unreliable players and Allegri. Milan haven't added enough, imo, and benefitted massively from only having one competition to focus on. Fourth comes down to the four I listed. I've seen people pick Atalanta, but I think that scene is over. The defense still sucks, and the goals aren't as free-flowing as before, though they aren't in Europe. Napoli I think are set to regress, having lost Koulibaly and the steadiness of Insigne and Mertens. They're also looking to bring in Kepa, so we'll see how that goes. Osimhen, if fit, will be elite, and the new KK from Georgia is legit. The choice is between the Rome clubs; Sarri is more modern than Mourinho, and I assess their squads as being at a similar level. I trust Immobile over Abraham and Alberto/SMS over whoever Roma trot out. Really, the top four *should* stay the same, but that's not how it works. With relegation, I just put two of the promoted teams and the team that *should* have gone down last season instead of Cagliari.

Spain

Champion- Barcelona

CL- Madrid, Atleti, Villarreal

Europa/Conference- Sevilla, Betis, La Real

Relegation- Almeria, Girona, Mallorca

Going backwards with this one. Mallorca were one of many bad teams last season, so I picked them. They picked up some random formerly good players, but their style is worse than clubs like Cadiz and Elche. I also picked two of the three promoted teams, so that's that. I like Valladolid more than Girona. With Europa and the Conference, I went for Sevilla having a down year and still the other two not being able to make a Champions League spot. Villarreal should sack Emery if they have as poor a season as they did last time, because their squad is at worst 5th in terms of quality depth. As reflected in the rankings, I'd have the squad over Sevilla at this point, given Kounde left and Sevilla have no reliable goalscorer. Also, Gerard Moreno missed lots of time last season, and they kept Pau and their other important players. I want to see Athletic in Europe, but I just don't see them scoring enough goals any time soon. The top 3 rotates in terms of who wins and who's in turmoil, so I think the huge upgrades this summer will propel Barcelona to the title. Some people will pretend Madrid were amazing last season in winning the double, but they weren't. The league was garbage and they took advantage of moments in each knockout tie, as they were largely dominated by all of PSG, Chelsea, City and Liverpool.

Bonus: European competitions

This is even more of a crapshoot. Basically, I see the oil derby finally being the Champions League final, and PSG still won't win. Yes, Man City will do it. Nothing much else to say about that. For Europa, Leipzig will beat Arsenal in the final, with Gulácsi and Orban over the moon as they lift the trophy in their home country. That, of course, will be after Leipzig are drawn into a tough group, where they fail, Tedesco is sacked mid-season, and they promote Jaissle from Salzburg. Arsenal will have an agonizingly close season, reaching another Europa League final just to lose it, while also barely missing out on a top four spot to Chelsea and Spurs. Fans will keep sucking off Arteta and trusting the process. The Conference will be contested by Fiorentina and Roma in an all Italian final. Fiorentina will dominate, led by the GOAT Italiano, but somehow lose 1-0 as Mourinho runs it back and Abraham combines with Dybala for the winner. Rui Patricio will make 10 saves and people will hype Roma, despite having another average season as their cheaper neighbors reach the Champions League.