It's been a big summer for some former Serie A stars that left the Italian league and joined new ones. AC Milan lost Sandro Tonali, who signed for Newcastle for a club-record sale of €80 million add-ons included, while city rivals Inter sold both Marcelo Brozovic to Al-Nassr for €18 million and goalkeeper Andre Onana to Manchester United for €57 million, add-ons included.
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Also, Napoli lost the best Serie A defender of the 2022-23 season Kim Min-Jae, who signed for Bayern Munich, while Saudi side Al-Hilal signed Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio for €40 million. Last but not least, Manchester United have just agreed terms with Atalanta for the transfer of Rasmus Holjund, who will join the English side for another club-record sale of €70 millionplus add-ons.
With all these soccer stars leaving Serie A, there are others coming, but there are still no big movements when it comes to the strikers of the league. In fact, all the ones cited above are goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders. The main reason why this is happening is not due to the Italian league itself but has a lot to do with other European clubs. The Italian Serie A doesn't have the financial power to make the big deals happen right now, as the clubs depend mainly on the other European league movements and now on the Saudi Pro League as well.
All the players mentioned signed for clubs of other leagues, and even the Italian top clubs can invest money in the transfer window only after selling the biggest stars, as has happened for AC Milan or Inter. Let's now take a deeper look at the best Serie A strikers and what can happenin the last month of the 2023 summer transfer window.
Dusan Vlahovic, Juventus
The Serbian striker is not untouchable for Juventus. The Bianconeri consider him as the starting number nine for the upcoming season but won't be against the idea of selling him if a big offer comes through. German side Bayern Munich and French champions Paris Saint-Germain showed interest in the past weeks but nothing concrete yet, while the interest coming from a few Premier League clubs has cooled down so far. Bayern Munich are now focused on the signing of Harry Kane from Tottenham, while PSG have to deal with the situation of Kylian Mbappe first. In case of the departure of Vlahovic, Juventus consider Romelu Lukaku as the ideal striker for the team coached by Massimiliano Allegri, as the Belgian striker is still looking for a new club this summer.
Victor Osimhen, Napoli
Before the summer, many thought that the MVP of the 2022-23 season was leaving Napoli. Well, they haven't considered the owner of the Italian club, Aurelio De Laurentiis. As he frequently said over the past weeks, he doesn't consider the player on the market unless some crazy bid arrives in the coming weeks. The player, who is now negotiating for a new contract with the Italian side, is one of the best strikers around Europe, and Napoli evaluate him for at least €180-200 million, as De Laurentiis stated. It won't be a surprise if we see Osimhen playing again for Napoli next season.
Ciro Immobile, Lazio
The Italian striker had the chance to leave Lazio this summer, but the president of the Italian side, Claudio Lotito, was clear enough about his immediate future.
"I've not received official bids for Immobile. He's like my son, he's not for sale," he said.
Immobile won the Golden Boot for top Serie A scorer four times, first in 2014 with Torino and in 2018, 2020 and 2022 with Lazio. The 2019-20 season was the most prolific of Immobile's career as he equaled the record for most Serie A goals in a season with 36 and won a third capocannoniere title and first European Golden Boot, given to the top scorer in Europe. Despite the interest coming from the Saudi league, it looks like he will play Champions League soccer this season under Maurizio Sarri's Lazio, unlike his former teammate Milinkovic-Savic, who joined Al-Hilal.
Bonus: Romelu Lukaku
Talking about strikers, we can't avoid mentioning the situation of Lukaku, who is still looking for a new club while he's officially back at Chelsea after the one-season loan to Inter. Big Rom wanted to be back in the Italian league but after Inter and Chelsea found the agreement for the transfer, the Nerazzurri pulled out of the race to sign him after he had initial talks with Juventus for a potential transfer. Sky Italy reported that Inter agreed terms with Chelsea for the Belgian striker for around €35 million after weeks of talks. However, following the agreement between the clubs, the agent of the player, Sebastien Ledure, didn't finalize the agreement between the Italian club and Lukaku while having initial talks with multiple clubs including AC Milan and Juventus. Inter striker Lautaro Martinez said to La Gazzetta dello Sport that he also "tried to call him, but he never answered back." Juventus are still interested but it will also depend on the future of Vlahovic, as mentioned above. Time is running out, and Lukaku is still looking for a new club. Will Big Rom be back in the league where he showed his best potential? In less than one month's time, we will know the answer.
