Twitter style thread Serie A

Players to watch from unheralded teams (i.e. not Inter, Juve, Milan, Napoli, Atalanta, Roma, Lazio).

In terms of a preview, here's what I'll say. It's unfortunate that the league is broke, but it's largely down to most clubs having dated infrastructure and not being sustainable, which goes back to the 90s. As I said with La Liga, I don't see anyone winning a Champions League title any time soon. Juve had their chances a few years back, Inter and Milan aren't serious, and there's a glass ceiling for Atalanta. However, there are plenty of interesting story lines. New managers; Inzaghi at Inter, Sarri at Lazio, Allegri back at Juve, Mourinho at Roma, Italiano at Fiorentina, Juric at Torino... I see Juve once again as favorites, which sucks, but what can you do. As stated in the first sentence, I'll be highlighting players from teams not featuring in Europe.

Bologna, Mattias Svanberg: most will have heard of Barrow, Orsolini and Tomiyasu by now. Born in New York, which I learned doing research for this, he's 22 and excels as in the attacking areas as a CM. Dominguez (23), his teammate, is better in defensive areas, but Svanberg has more hype while being better going forward.

Cagliari, Cragno/Joao Pedro: both "underrated" because Cagliari is a bit of a circus. Neither super young, though Cragno (27) could have a number of years at the top of his game as he's a keeper. Pedro (29) scored 16 goals last season in a diabolical attacking side (4 pens).

Empoli, Samuele Ricci: 19 years old. First player I thought about when I heard of him was Tonali. Different roles, however. Under Dionisi, he played as a mezzala in a 4-3-1-2. Keeps things simple, doesn't always want the ball, which is the opposite of Tonali, and should stay there at least one season, whether they stay up or not.

Fiorentina, Gaetano Castrovilli: Won't mention Milenkovic or Vlahovic because most have heard of them by now. Castrovilli came into the Italy EURO squad for the injured Pellegrini, so he's won something. Basically, he's a luxury player, stifled by the horrendous coaching at Fiorentina in recent times. Should improve greatly with Italiano at the helm. 90th percentile in non-pen goals, non-pen xG, touches in attacking pen area, prog passes received, 80th percentile in npxG+xA and progressive carries. So yeah, not great defensively, but creates for days.

Genoa, Nicolo Rovella: limited pickings here, so I picked the youngster even though he's "owned" by Juve now. He's not played that much, only 13 full 90's, but that's normal for a 19 year old. Around the 80th percentile in assists per 90, xA, blocks and clearances. 90th in pressures, which means he puts himself about.

Verona, Mattia Zaccagni: calcio lovers will know him, but most casual watchers wouldn't be able to name one Verona player. Played as one of the #10's in Juric system, he ranks highly in progressive carries and dribbles completed, as well as aerials won and interceptions. That system is rather defensive (3-4-2-1), so his attacking numbers don't stand out at all.

Salernitana, Coulibaly: Watched game vs Empoli last season, a 2-0 victory, and Coulibaly (22) stood out. Partly because he was one of two black players, but he also was everywhere. On loan from Udinese but there's at least an option, maybe obligation, to buy. Does the mezzala role in a 3-5-2. Bogdan (25), the CB, scored the first goal, so he gets a mention.

Sampdoria, Morten Thorsby: Damsgaard is disqualified here because of the EURO hype. Thus, I've gone with the 25 y/o Norwegian. He's good at everything except passing. Best way I can explain that is Samp were 4th lowest in terms of possession last season, and most of their attacks were from out wide. I also like Audero, the keeper.

Sassuolo, Gian Marco Ferrari: No Berardi or Locatelli here. Many will also mention Boga, the dribbler, but he had a poor season. Hamed Traore, brother of Amad, is also worth a shout, as he's very balanced. Ferrari (29), though, stood out statistically. For CB's, he's 80th percentile or above in shots, assists, xA, shot-creating actions, passes attempted, pass completion %, progressive passes and carries, as well as blocks. Modern CB.

Spezia, Maggiore and Nzola: couldn't pick one. Maggiore was one of two CM's in the 4-3-3- Italiano played, while Nzola was the striker. Most of the contribution from Maggiore is in the attacking third, but he also puts in defensive work. Nzola as well, ranking in the 77th percentile in clearances and 91st in blocks, all while scoring a decent amount of goals and passing the ball efficiently (97th % pass completion).

Torino, Bremer: no Belotti, as I've hyped him up too much already. Next best option was Bremer (24), the CB. Torino is in a weird spot, in that they've been badly underachieving for a long time, and they're bad on both ends of the pitch. Bremer, statistically, is awesome though. Best way to describe him is he's a physical CB, a dog if you will. Doesn't do much in the buildup, but in both penalty boxes is a beast, backed up by the stats.

Udinese, Nahuel Molina: They just sold de Paul and Musso, so that's great. Another mediocre at best season to come. However, I do like Molina. He acts as one of the two width options in the side in a negative, horrible to watch 3-5-2, catenaccio style. He ranks in the 70th percentile or above in all of non-pen goals, npxG, shots, assists, xA, shot-creating actions, touches in opponent's area, prog passes received, blocks, interceptions, and pressures. Played 4 games in Argentina's recent Copa America win as well.

Venezia, Arnor Sigudsson: like Salernitana, this side is unknown unless you watch Serie B. You take TM values with a grain of salt, but coming from CSKA in the Russia league, he'll have played at the highest level. Stat wise, it's not great, as his numbers (according to understat) have declined steadily in the past three seasons, going from 5g 1a (4.2 xG 2.3 xA) in 18/19 to 2g 3a (1.74 xG 2.12 xA) last season. Part of that is fewer minutes. Iceland international.