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Italian Serie A is a league where players don't want to be this summer. Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the latest superstar to have sought a move away from the league.
The effects of the pandemic were significant in Italy. The absence of fans inside the stadiums, followed by a reduction in broadcast revenues, has put Serie A clubs in trouble.
Serie A clubs sanctioning emeregency sales to balance the books
The clubs are under heavy debt and are desperate to balance their books. They have tried to lower their overall wage budget.
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The Serie A clubs had asked their players to accept wage cuts last summer, a suggestion that was swiftly rejected by the Italian soccer players’ association.
They have therefore resorted to the tactics of selling some of their star players to strengthen their balance sheet this time.
The job is almost done now. Most Serie A clubs are now in rather comfortable positions, showing significant rises in their market value compared to last season.
In the list below we are going to discuss the five most valuable Serie A teams right now:
#5 AS Roma (€423 million)
AS Roma's current market valuation is around €423m, a 19.9 per cent increase from last year. The Serie A side knew they would have to keep a healthy budget available when they appointed Jose Mourinho as their new manager.
They did so with the signings of as many as six players. The highest fee they paid was for Tammy Abraham, whom they signed from Chelsea for a €40m fee.
Apart from Abraham, Roma's market value has been further escalated by some of their long-serving players.
Nicolo Zaniolo is one such example. The 22-year-old, who has been at AS Roma for the last three years, is priced at €40m.
Skipper Lorenzo Pellegrini and Jordan Veretout add up another €73m.
Roma will now hope that they will be able to ride on Mourinho's managerial skills to make headway in Serie A this season.
It was a disappointing campaign last time when they could only qualify for the UEFA Conference League.
#4 AC Milan (€443 million)
It was probably the worst transfer window in AC Milan's history. Their inability to agree new deals with some of their best players meant that the Serie A giants had to let them go for free.
The biggest of those was goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Currently valued at €65m, the European Championships winner left AC Milan for free.
Hakan Calhanoglu is yet another high-profile departure. The Turkish international, valued at €35m angered the AC Milan fans when he refused to sign a new deal and later joined rivals Inter Milan.
The Serie A giants compensated for Donnarumma's loss with the signing of Mike Maignan (€13m). Fikayo Tomori added another €29m to AC Milan's market value, which now stands at €443 million.
Timori, though, is not new to the Serie A scene having spent last season at the San Siro-based outfit on loan from Chelsea.
The player with the highest valuation in the AC Milan team is Franck Kessie, who is valued at €55m. Full-back Theo Hernandez contributes with another €50m.
AC Milan are counting on some old horses such as Zlatan Ibrahomivic and Olivier Giroud to bring them success in Serie A this season.
#3 Napoli (€497 million)
Luciano Spalletti's Napoli are the only Serie A side seeing negative growth in their overall market valuation over the last year. They are currently priced at €497m.
A major contributor towards the decline is the absence of star players in the current Napoli squad.
Striker Victor Osimhen and attacking midfielder Piotr Zielinski add the highest value to the squad (€50m).
Despite all the interest generated, Napoli have managed to hold on to defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who contributes to another €45m.
Apart from that, the Serie A side hardly have any other major players contributing towards the overall market value.
However, Napoli have what can be called a balanced squad consisting of players with reasonable market value taking their stakes up.
Napoli spent €19m to sign yet another low-profile player, Matteo Politano, from Inter. Yet with an experienced manager at the helm, the Napoli board are confident of a good result in Serie A this season as well.
#2 Inter Milan (€596 million)
The Serie A champions are priced at €596m at the moment. There was a slender 1.8 per cent increase in their market valuation this summer compared to last August.
The €100m priced Romelu Lukaku's departure from the Serie A scene was a significant blow. Another €60m reduction happened when Achraf Hakimi left San Siro to join Paris Saint-Germain.
Inter Milan still have significant value in their squad to make it to second spot on their list.
Lautaro Martinez, who has been the subject of interest from Tottenham, has a market value of €80m. At least this summer the Nerazzurri have no intention of letting the Argentine star go.
Inter Milan have a very expensive duo of Milan Skriniar and Alessandro Bastoni(combined value of €120m) taking care of their defense.
Zinho Vanheusden was Inter Milan's most expensive signing of the summer, arriving from Belgian outfit Standard Liege for €16m.
#1 Juventus (€654 million)
Juventus' market value before the pandemic, back in the summer of 2019 was a resounding €869m. Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo (€60m) and Miralem Pjanic (€52m) contributed hugely in taking that value up.
Following the pandemic, Juventus' stakes have fallen significantly. The club have failed to add star power to their squad, resulting in a decrease in valuation.
The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United was a further blow to the club's market valuation.
The Serie A giants had to pay €32m through wages to Ronaldo every year. The increasing pressure of debt meant that they had to offload such a huge wage-earner.
Ronaldo's loss will decrease Juventus' valuation by another €23m before the end of the transfer window next Tuesday.
Cristian Romero contributed for another €16m. He left to join fellow Serie A side Atalanta, who then lent him to Tottenham for the season.
There has hardly been any significant incoming to disturb the financial balance. The highest amount (€37.5m) was spent on bringing Manuel Locatelli from Sassuolo.
The players with the highest market value in the current Juventus dressing room are Matthijs de Ligt (€75m) and Federico Chiesa (€70m). The duo play significant roles in taking the Serie A side's market value up to €654m, which is the highest in Italy.
