Serie A has bid a fond farewell to one of its finest players as Chilean hitman Alexis Sanchez leaves Inter Milan for a new adventure with Ligue 1 giants Olympique Marseille.
The former Arsenal striker was courted by Turkish club Galatasaray but he has opted for a team closer to home, hopping over the border to the South of France. His move has been in the pipeline for a few weeks and Sanchez has now signed a one-year contract at Marseille with an option for a second.
He has enjoyed three successful seasons in Milan, picking up a Serie A winners medal, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa. Sanchez joined I Nerazzurri from Manchester United back in 2019, and reached the Europa League final in his first season in Italy, before winning the league title in his second.
Now he’s training with the French club and has spoken to his new fans, saying: “I was told the great story of OM. It is one of the most historic French teams, the only one to have won the Champions League. I considered it a major challenge in my career; a challenge that I want to take up.”
His new head coach, Igor Tudor, saw Sanchez play first-hand last season when he was manager at Serie A side Hellas Verona and he was impressed by what he saw: “He can play in all three positions in attack,” said the Croatian coach, “it makes a difference because he is strong. He has always been a professional even playing little; then I liked him when he took the field last year with Inter.”
While Paris Saint-Germain are hot favourites to win the Ligue 1 title, OM will hope to push them close and the signing of Sanchez may well help them in that aim. It may take him a few weeks to get up to full speed but, when he does, he will be a real attacking threat in the French league.
Inter and AC Milan said ‘no’ to CR7
Reports in the Italian press have emerged to suggest that both Milan clubs have turned down the offer of Cristiano Ronaldo’s services. Apparently, the Manchester United star’s agent, Jorge Mendes, contacted the two clubs in July to gauge their interest in the Portuguese player who is keen to leave Old Trafford in search of Champions League football.
In some ways he would be a good fit, particularly in the historic city of Milan, but neither club was keen to take on his huge wage, an eye-watering 24m Euros net per season. A number of other clubs have also declined to take on Mendes’ client, including PSG and Atletico Madrid, and it looks like CR7 might be heading back to his homeland to play for Sporting Lisbon.
Both Milan clubs started to new Serie A campaign with a win, I Rossoneri beat Udinese 4-2 at the San Siro, a comfortable win we predicted here at SBOTOP, while Inter eked out a 2-1 victory away to Lecce. If either is to win the 2022/23 Scudetto they will need a united team, and it is possible a player with the profile of Ronaldo might just unbalance the dressing room.
Success for Rome
While the Milanese clubs thrived at the weekend, there were good Serie A 2022 results too for the capital city giants as both Roma and Lazio began their campaigns with a win. Ex-Juventus player Paul Dybala made an impressive debut for Jose Mourinho’s Roma as they picked up three points in a 1-0 win away to Salernitana.
Bryan Cristante scored the only goal of the game in the 33rd minute, but Dybala was a livewire throughout, coming close to adding to the score in the second half and having an assist chalked off when scorer Georginio Wijnaldum strayed offside.
The pre-season Serie A 2022 betting odds rate Roma as serious top-four contenders but Mourinho is happy to play that down at the moment. He steered the club to the Europa Conference League title last term, their first trophy in 14 years, and he will be quietly confident of bringing more success to the club this time around.
Meanwhile Lazio also picked up a 2-1 win at home to Bologna despite having goalkeeper Luis Maximiano sent off just six minutes into his Serie A debut. The Portuguese stopper was red-carded when he handled outside the penalty area, and things got worse for Lazio when Marko Arnautovic scored for Bologna from the penalty spot midway through the half.
When Bologna had Adama Soumaoro sent off at the end of the first half, there was numerical parity restored and Lazio hit back in the second period. The Romans were allowed back into the game courtesy of an own goal and they took all three points when Ciro Immobile broke clear and slid the ball calmly through the legs of the advancing Lukasz Skorupski.
Juventus open their account at home to Sassuolo on Monday night.
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