The French Ligue 1 kicks off this Friday with defending champions Monaco hosting Toulouse. This marks the beginning of the five biggest leagues in Europe: Ligue 1 (France), Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany), La Liga (Spain), and Premier League (England). England kicks off the following weekend with Italy, Spain, and Germany all starting the week after that. I’ll be giving you my picks for who I think will take the Champions League positions for each league – the picks for England will appear in my Premier League predictions next week. **Disclaimer: The transfer window is still open so major transfers could have monumental ramifications on these predictions.**
France
3. Marseille
A poor start to the season last year saw Marseille never really challenge for the top of the table. January additions of Morgan Sanson and the return of Dimitri Payet along with the scintillating second half of the season by Florian Thauvin saw them end the season in fifth, qualifying for the Europa League qualifying rounds. They currently look as if they will advance to the group stage which could hinder their domestic season but I believe they have added the firepower they need to qualify for the Champions League this season. The return of long time stopper Steve Mandanda will help shore up their defense along with the addition of Adil Rami from Sevilla. Luis Gustavo has joined from Wolfsburg to bolster the midfield and Valentin Germain has moved from Monaco to soften the departure of Bafetimbi Gomis (20 goals last season) after his loan ended. Lyon has lost huge players in Lacazette, Tolisso, and Gonalons and Nice has not added much to retain their high position while losing Pereira with his loan ending and Dalbert and Seri potentially departing soon as well. Those moves lead me to believe that Marseille can jump them and once again claim Champions League football.
2. Monaco
It was always going to be difficult to repeat as champions, wasn’t it? Then you add in the departures of major players like Mendy, Silva, Bakayoko, and to a lesser extent Germain and Dirar, and dreams of a repeat seem bleak. However, Monaco has played the transfer market beautifully this summer adding players for relatively cheap while selling on their stars for massive sums. Additions Youri Tielemans, Terrence Kongolo, and Adama Diakhaby are rising stars and will do as Monaco did last season and make their names on the world stage this season, particularly Tielemans. The added complication of Champions League football will hinder the young squad but they should still do well. Rumors of departures for Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappe have made rounds all summer and any windfall from these transfers will have to be used to find a suitable replacement if Monaco is to pose the same attacking threat that they did last season.
1. Paris Saint-Germain
PSG should certainly find themselves back on top of Ligue 1 this season or else it will have been a disaster. They probably still should have won the league last season despite Monaco’s brilliance and the end to their Champions League run was as embarrassing as it gets. They have added key players to their defense with Dani Alves arriving on a free transfer to replace the likely departing and out-of-favor Serge Aurier and Yuri Berchiche moving over from Real Sociedad to replace the retiring Maxwell and serve as a suitable second choice to Layvin Kurzawa. We all know what the big addition is that PSG is about to finalize. Neymar is moving from Barcelona to PSG on a record demolishing fee reported to be 222 million €. This transfer is of a magnitude that the footballing world has yet to witness with it more than doubling the record set last summer by Paul Pogba’s move to Manchester United (105 million €). His move will see a domino effect ripple throughout the world of football as clubs scramble to replace these marquee players they will be selling to other clubs making similar replacements. If Neymar comes to PSG and does not win the title it will be worse than if Kevin Durant had not won with Golden State this year. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that PSG still possess one of the top strikers in the world, Edinson Cavani, who scored the most goals in Ligue 1 last season (35) and second most in all of Europe once out of the shadow of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. PSG has to finally deliver on the massive amounts of money being pumped into the club on both the domestic and European levels.
Italy
3. Napoli
Napoli should retain the third spot with Roma finishing below them this time around. Roma has had significant departures with Salah and Rüdiger both leaving for the Premier League this summer and they have failed to properly replace them. Napoli has not lost near as influential of players but also have not made any significant additions either. Napoli narrowly lost out on second place last season and won’t be bested by Roma again this year as long as Insigne and Mertens continue their stunning runs of scoring into the new season.
2. AC Milan
The team that has been the talk of the transfer window. After finishing a disappointing sixth place last season their wealthy investors have been determined to greatly improve the squad going into this season. They have redone their whole back line with Bonucci and Musacchio coming in as center backs and Ricardo Rodriguez and Andrea Conti as the new full backs. Conti will be replacing the departing De Sciglio who left for Juventus. A new deal fro Gianluigi Donnarumma was a massive positive step towards securing Milan’s future and showing their intent both domestically and in Europe. The midfield was improved with deals for Hakan Calhanoglu, Lucas Biglia, and Franck Kessie. Andre Silva was brought in to strengthen the attack and Milan is rumored to be pursuing at least one more attacking option, potentially Diego Costa or Andrea Belotti. Milan will surely prioritize the league over their likely entry into the Europa League so I expect big things from them. Throwing an almost entirely new starting XI together will pose many challenges at first so manager Vincenzo Montella will have lots of work to do in his second season at the helm. Milan is a trendy pick to usurp Juventus at the top of the table but I believe their lack of chemistry will prevent them from doing so at least in this first season.
1. Juventus
Picking the six-time defending champions to win the scudetto for the seventh straight time isn’t exactly a bold prediction. It is for good reason that I don’t see the Old Lady relinquishing the title this season despite their less than stellar new logo. The only major departure they’ve endured this summer was losing Leonardo Bonucci which is a big loss but Juventus has enough quality at center back with Chiellini, Barzagli, Rugani, and Benatia all under contract – not to mention Caldara who is on loan at Atalanta. Juve have done well to reject the advances of Chelsea thus far and keep hold of Alex Sandro. They added young starlet Federico Bernardeschi from Fiorentina for a whopping 40 million € but the Italian international is a player of the future both for Juve and the Azurri. Watch for him to make an impact as Juventus look to take the title once again.
Germany
4. Hertha Berlin
A little bit of a bolder prediction but outside of Dortmund and Bayern the Bundesliga is a pretty wide open race. Last season only 12 points separated fifth and the relegation playoff spot (16) so the with Hoffenheim losing some big players in Süle and Rudy this window. Hoffenheim could easily retain their fourth place position with the addition of Serge Gnabry on loan but for some reason Berlin looks like they could take it this year. They lost John Brooks to Wolfsburg earlyin the transfer window but they have done little business since then. I don’t really have a true reason for picking Berlin to finish here other than that I wasn’t confident in picking Hoffenheim or Köln ahead of them.
3. RB Leipzig
Leipzig was a surprise to much of the footballing world last season as they finished as runners-up in their debut season in the Bundesliga. Leipzig are supported financially by energy drink behemoths Red Bull, a reality much maligned by supporters of German football. Despite this, Leipzig have not risen to prominence with lavish spending but rather through the development of youth players both, bought and homegrown, very similar to how one should build their team in a career mode on FIFA. They have not lost any key players from their stunning debut season, though fans of Liverpool would probably tell you that Naby Keïta will be a Red any day now. Their biggest moves this summer were bringing in speedy winger Bruma from Galatasaray and Jean-Kevin Augustin to replace Davie Selke who moved to Berlin. Leipzig have been rather quiet outside of those moves as they prepare for their maiden voyage in the Champions League. Replicating their success from last season will be difficult but they could easily finish anywhere in the top four.
2. Borussia Dortmund
Probably the only team who can really challenge Bayern for the title, Dortmund likely will only get as far as second this season. The additions of Ömer Toprak, Maximilian Phillip, and Mamoud Dahoud have brought reinforcements to each section of the field. Losing Matthias Ginter and Lars Bender will be alleviated by the arrival of Toprak who has been rock at the back in the Bundesliga for years at Leverkusen and Freiburg. Incoming manager Peter Bosz will have to hope that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can continue to bag goals by the boatload and that Marco Reus can return to fitness after his injury in the DFB-Pokal final last season and make an impact in the second half of the season. I don’t think Dortmund has made big enough moves to give them the first position but we shall see.
1. Bayern Munich
The five-time returning champions will likely make that six in a row this season. Bayern won the title comfortably last season despite some early pressure from Leipzig. Their most notable departure was the out-of-favor Douglas Costa so that is not a huge loss for them. They’ve brought in James Rodriguez on loan from Real Madrid but he will miss the start of the season with a recent injury. Niklas Süle and Corentin Tolisso are major additions that should see them win the league again easily. No other team in the Bundesliga has gotten remotely close to matching their moves in the transfer market and likely none of them will truly rival them at the top of the table either.
Spain
4. Villarreal
I believe the Yellow Submarine will end this season in their joint-highest position since finishing as runners-up in the 2007-08 season. Villarreal have brought in some young players this summer to give a major boost to their. Enes Ünal has made his way over from Manchester City after tearing up the Eredivisie on loan at FC Twente last season with 18 goals. He will surely add a potency to their attack that hasn’t been up to the standards of their other top-of-the-table rivals. Mateo Musacchio has joined the revolution at AC Milan but Ruben Semedo has come in and will slot nicely into his place. Semedo has loads of potential and had offers from Premier League clubs but playing against some of the best attackers in the world will truly test him. Sevilla could retain their fourth place position but I predict that Villarreal will jump them with Sevilla losing many more important players through the end of loans and sales and the added focus of the Champions League.
3. Atletico Madrid
The odd one out of the top three teams in Spain, Atletico Madrid will once again finish third mainly due to their transfer ban that was upheld this summer. It prevented them from signing Alexandre Lacazette but in turn saw them retain Antoine Griezmann. They still may land Diego Costa as they landed Vitolo but even if they do he will not be able to join them until January. Atletico has not lost any first team players and locked down star Saul Ñiguez for the next nine years. Even with his retention Atletico don’t quite have the all-around squad power to ovetake Barcelona or Real Madrid this season in my eyes.
2. Barcelona
Barcelona fans will once again be disappointed this season when the see Real Madrid hoist the trophy at their expense. One of their star players, Neymar, has just left the trio of MSN for a new Uruguayan striker (Edinson Cavani) and Argentinian winger (Angel Di Maria). Depending on how Barcelona decide to replace Neymar they could potentially take the title but even with 222 million € it will be incredibly difficult to replace him on the left side, especially if they think overpaying for Philippe Coutinho is the answer. New addition Nelson Semedo will help solve the chronic issues they had at left back last season but he is the only major signing they have made so far. New manager Ernesto Valverde is largely unproven though I’m sure pretty much anyone can coach a team with world class talent in every position, even more so when one of those players is Lionel Messi.
1. Real Madrid
The winners of the 2016/17 Champions League and La Liga are back at it again. Real Madrid have been fairly quiet in the transfer market this summer by their standards. They managed to get over 100 million € in return for the loan of one and the sales of two squad depth players. Not bad business at all. They’ve spent nearly have of those fees on two rising stars in La Liga, snatching them away from their lurking rivals. Theo Hernandez and Dani Ceballos have the talent and promise to terrorize those clubs who missed out on them for seasons to come as they are only 19 and 20 respectively. After a brief scare that Ronaldo wanted to leave this summer, Real has regained control over the situation and he will be remaining there for the time being. Rumors of a monumental bid for Mbappe swirl daily and we may just see Real make a massive move like that before the end of the transfer window especially once the carousel starts on the replacements following Neymar’s departure from Barcelona. As it stands right now I see no reason why Real Madrid should not retain their title this season.
As I said before with so much time left in the transfer window many of these predictions could be drastically affected but as it stands these are my predictions before the seasons begin. Feel free to call me an idiot in the comments or on Twitter and don’t be afraid to post your own predictions as well. Don’t forget to hold me accountable in nine months time if these end up being horribly inaccurate. My Premier League predictions will be up next week as we near the start of the season so get excited for my in-depth predictions on the league I follow most. See you all next time!
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