Serie A, home of the old men

Juventus have made a new offer of £15 million (€17.3 million) for Jadon Sancho. This is an improvement on the previous price of £13 million (€15 million), but still quite a distance from the desired figure of £21.6 million (€25 million).

Can Juventus' efforts to sign the 25-year-old Englishman, along with Porto's successful bid to sell 22-year-old Francisco Conceicao for €35 million in four installments, help make Serie A a little younger? The answer is no, because the trend of recruiting aging stars is still popular in the land of pasta.

A few days ago, Fiorentina signed 39-year-old Edin Dzeko. De Bruyne, 34, also joined Napoli, while Milan welcomed 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric, now 39. They will be reunited with Daniele Padelli, Pedro, the 37-year-old duo of Lazio, Francesco Acerbi (37) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (36) of Inter, Alexis Sanchez (36) of Udinese and Lorenzo De Silvestri (37) of Bologna, and many other names, making Serie A a tournament of old men.

De Bruyne joined Napoli after 10 years with Man City.

This goes against the trend of modern football, where young players have more room to play than before. The fact that teams prefer a high-intensity pressing style, and at the same time, the positional play that forces players to move more, requiring more physical strength, also means that being young is an advantage. In addition, the development of the Academy with the help of technology and sports science has encouraged players to mature early.

Lamine Yamal is a testament to this. At the age of 18, he has played over 100 games for Barca (scoring 25 goals), 20 games (scoring 6 goals) for the Spanish national team, and has become a major candidate for the Golden Ball. In addition, statistics show that over the past decade, the number of players under 23 playing more than 900 minutes in the Premier League has increased by 32%. Another example, in the recent FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final, the average age of Chelsea's starting lineup was 24.7, while PSG's was 25.2.

Not everywhere is caught up in the whirlwind, though. In Serie A, the pace is a little slower and there is still room for players who prefer to be delicate rather than being a running machine. The boot-shaped country has suddenly become the ideal home for old men who still want to breathe the atmosphere of top-level football.

Inter Milan reached the 2024/25 Champions League final with an aging squad.

In its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, Serie A was home to some of the biggest stars in world football. Today, the Italian league is still full of stars. Only they are not only past their prime, but are well into the twilight of their careers.

Before joining Milan, Modric bid farewell to Real with 16 minutes on the pitch in a 0-4 defeat to PSG. Although he appeared in all six Club World Cup matches, he did not start any, with a total playing time of just 119 minutes. De Bruyne was similar, playing a secondary role in the final stages of his Man City career. Pep Guardiola praised his contributions, but frankly said the Belgian midfielder was no longer suitable for the rebuild at Etihad.

Of course, De Bruyne is still suitable for Napoli, similarly Milan believe Modric will bring many positives to Milan. They are also expected to make Serie A more attractive, at the same time creating a competitive season. After the period of Juventus's domination, the league has become more balanced and the positions in the top 4 change frequently. Maybe Serie A is behind the top leagues in Europe but that's okay. Everyone is still happy, from young to old.