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2019-20 preseason Serie A power rankings: Everybody is chasing Juventus

By John Vaccaro

Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini (3) kisses the Serie A soccer title trophy after the Serie A football match n.38 JUVENTUS - VERONA on 19/05/2018 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini (3) kisses the Serie A soccer title trophy after the Serie A football match n.38 JUVENTUS - VERONA on 19/05/2018 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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MAPEI STADIUM – CITTA DEL TRICOLORE, REGGIO NELL’EMILIA, ITALY – 2019/08/18: Hamed Junior Traore of US Sassuolo celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Coppa Italia football match between US Sassuolo and Spezia Calcio. US Sassuolo won 1-0 over Spezia Calcio. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
MAPEI STADIUM – CITTA DEL TRICOLORE, REGGIO NELL’EMILIA, ITALY – 2019/08/18: Hamed Junior Traore of US Sassuolo celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Coppa Italia football match between US Sassuolo and Spezia Calcio. US Sassuolo won 1-0 over Spezia Calcio. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /

14. Genoa

Genoa barely avoided relegation last year, surviving because of a tiebreaker against Empoli. This summer they made sure that won’t happen again. The biggest loss they suffered over the summer was Cristian Romero, but he is coming back on a loan. They made a few small additions this summer that should help stay in the mid teens. Lasse Schone was able to contribute to an Ajax squad that made the Champions League semifinal last year. His addition along with Lukas Lerager, Pawel Jaroszynski, and the rest of Genoas signings will keep them safely away from relegation. Just how these signings change them this year will be interesting to see, but for now it is only good enough for 14th.

13. Sampdoria

Sampdoria had a very strong season last year, but they followed it up with a bit of a rough summer. They lost Gregoire Defrel, Dennis Praet, Joachim Andersen, and Riccardo Saponara who all appeared regularly for them last season and did very little to replace any of them. On top of that, it is really hard to believe that Fabio Quagliarella will be anywhere near as effective this year as he was last year. All of that on top of a manager change should add up to Sampdoria dropping a few spots down the table this year.

12. Sassuolo

Sassuolo is an odd team to try to fit into these rankings. They played surprisingly well early last season and then settled into the team they were expected to be, finishing 11th. Their second half of the season was disappointing and now their squad has gotten a bit weaker. They took a downgrade at right back when they let Pol Lirola go to Fiorentina on loan and replaced him with Jeremy Toljan, but Manuel Locatelli should be an upgrade from Stefano Sensi. Francesco Caputo should fill the void left by Kevin-Prince Boateng, but there is one departure won’t be able to overcome. Merih Demiral became a key part of the Sassuolo defense in the second half of last season, but now he’s with Juventus. I think they’ll struggle to replace him and it’ll take them a little while to get their attack back to where it was in the first half of last season. They should be able to finish around where they did last year, but they won’t be in the hunt for a Europa League spot this time around.

11. Bologna

Bologna’s 10th place finish last year was a bit surprising, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if they can repeat it this season. The losses of Erick Pulgar and Filip Helander both weakened the squad a bit, but Bologna brought in replacements who should be up to the task. They also have a few young players who should factor more heavily into their plans this year. This squad is a slight improvement over last year’s and they should be able to keep themselves somewhere between 10 and 13 this year.

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