Fabio Capello's Serie A Insights: Inter Dominates, Juventus and Milan Struggle
Fabio Capello has seen enough Serie A seasons to recognise a hierarchy when he sees one. With less than two weeks to go before the 2026-27 campaign kicks off, he looks at the league table in his mind and still sees Inter sitting alone at the top.
Not just champions. Benchmarks.
Inter out in front
Writing in his column for La Gazzetta dello Sport, the former Milan and Juventus coach did not bother dressing it up: the gap to the Nerazzurri is still wide, and time is running out for the supposed challengers.
“The distance between them (Milan and Juventus) and Inter, the champions of Italy, seems difficult to bridge in such a short space of time,” he observed, echoing the concern already splashed across the front page of Corriere dello Sport, which calculated that the top sides are collectively “missing” around 20 starters with the season almost upon them.
The champions, in Capello’s eyes, look like a finished product. Their rivals look anything but.
Juventus: Spalletti’s imprint still missing
Capello’s verdict on Juventus is blunt. This is not yet a Luciano Spalletti team.
“Juventus don't yet seem like a Luciano Spalletti side to me,” he wrote, pointing to a group still searching for structure and identity rather than one already shaped by the coach’s exacting hand.
There are positives. The arrivals of Randal Kolo Muani and Kerim Alajbegovic encourage him. Fresh energy, fresh ideas. But they do not mask what he sees as the real fault lines.
At the back, he believes, the Bianconeri are still short. And in goal, he sees a problem that cannot be ignored.
“Juve still has a big problem and that is the goalkeeper,” Capello insisted. He made a point of showing respect to Michele Di Gregorio, but underlined that the situation “seems irreversible” to him.
Juventus have been linked with a potential move for Zion Suzuki, possibly on loan if the Japanese goalkeeper completes a transfer from Parma to PSG. Capello, though, has a different name circled in red.
If the club opts for a stopgap rather than a long-term investment, he would place his bet on Guglielmo Vicario.
“So, if a no.1 comes in on loan, I have no doubts about who to bet on: Vicario at Tottenham,” he wrote, highlighting one simple reason. Unlike Suzuki, Vicario has already shown he can handle the pressure of a major club, and has done so in London.
For Capello, that matters. Juventus, he implies, cannot afford a learning curve between the posts.
Milan: a construction site, not a contender
If Juventus worry him, Milan trouble him even more.
“Milan look like an open construction site: only the work in progress sign is missing, yet the start of the Serie A season is just around the corner,” he said, summing up a summer that has felt more like a prolonged prelude than a coherent build.
The latest development has not eased his concerns. Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot have chosen to extend their holidays, returning only a week before the season starts. Capello did not hide his irritation.
“Milan are still waiting for two big names in Maignan and Rabiot – by the way, I didn't like the news of their return being delayed by four days at all.”
The new signings, Gila and Ramos, have barely been seen. The starting XI that Ruben Amorim will rely on remains more theory than reality. In Jakarta, where Amorim watched from the touchline during a pre-season friendly against Chelsea at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, the image was of a coach still weighing options rather than fine-tuning details.
Capello senses “a bit of confusion” around the Rossoneri, and he traces a large part of that unease back to Rafael Leao.
Leao, the Premier League and San Siro’s patience
Leao’s public declaration of his desire for the Premier League has not gone unnoticed. Capello believes the forward has misjudged his hand.
“Rafa overestimated himself by publicly calling for the Premier League,” he warned. If the winger stays, Capello would “be wary of the San Siro reaction to the first time he fails to run.”
It is a sharp line, and an accurate one. San Siro admires talent, but it demands effort. If Leao remains in Milan after such open flirtation with England, every lost duel, every half-hearted sprint, will echo louder.
Amorim, meanwhile, is still trying to impose his ideas on a squad that does not yet look like his. Capello’s assessment is clear: this is not an Amorim team in his image, not yet, and until an Italian core emerges to anchor his project, the pieces may continue to feel scattered.
A race against the clock
For both Juventus and Milan, Capello sees the same problem from different angles: too much to do, not enough time to do it.
He ends with a hope, not a prediction. The upcoming meeting between Gerry Cardinale and Amorim, he suggests, must bring clarity and direction, especially for Milan’s transfer strategy in the final 20 days of the window.
Because Inter are already where they want to be.
Everyone else is still drawing the blueprint.
