It is no longer news that a certain Mino Raiola rules the rue in the Serie A transfer market or anywhere there is a deal to be made. Correct me if I am wrong but this Super Agent in his own little way decided the destination of the scudetto title for 2012/13 season with the deals he put together to change the landscape of the Serie A title charge. Of critical mention has to be the transfers of Zlatan Ibrahimovic away from Milan to PSG effectively taking away 25 plus goals from the Milan attack hence crippling an otherwise strong and mighty Milan in the process; also he engineered the transfer of the young player of the year in my opinion in Serie A, Paul Pogba from Manchester United, his emergence during the course of the season galvanized Juventus to its 29th or 31st scudetto depending on what side of the divide you belong to.
To actual events on the pitch, this was another dominating season for the Old Lady as it was able to sing and dance its way to back to back scudetto; we take a look at their season as a whole, the highs, lows, team of the year and other awards.
Relegated teams: Palermo, Siena, Pescara
It's always sad when a team goes down to the lower division via the relegation positions; no surprise that Pescara returned to Serie B, but Siena have almost somewhat established themselves in the top division. The major surprise has to be Palermo and i feel no pity for this team, maybe some time in Serie B would knock some sense into their erratic and trigger happy President Mario Zamparini to change his ways and seek for stability in the team especially in the coaching department. Pescara did play some good football, but had lost their star player from Serie B, Marco Veratti to PSG, but then losing 5 of your last 6 matches showed there was no way for survival, same for the other two teams, as Palermo were the only team in the relegation zone to muster a victory in the last six matches; relegation was a certainty.
The Wannabes: Inter, Roma, Lazio
A lot was expected from the two capital teams coming into the season with new managers, especially Roma who brought in Zdnek Zeman for another spell at the helm, promising open, attacking football in an otherwise cagey and overly tactical Italian Serie A but then delivered very little. Roma played good football under Zeman, but conceded too many in games where victory seem a sure certainty. Eventually the American owners got fed up and installed Andreazzoli for the remanider of the season to steady the ship; he was able to lead them to the Coppa Italia final against Eternal City rivals Lazio which they lost. Vladimir Petrovic has successful stirred the Lazio ship commendably, at some point Lazio were contenders for one of the three Champions League places; however they had to do with the consolation of winning the Coppa Italia defeating city rivals As Roma. The success story of Lazio's season has to be Petrovic getting the best out of Miroslav Klose; the German was in good form during the season, Lazio can definitely consider this a successful season.
Going into this season expectations from Inter's young manager Andrea Stramaccioni after the ill fated reigns of Gasperini and Ranieri were quite high. It was seen as a breathe of fresh air, a fusion of young blood to an otherwise aging Inter side, that still had Javier Zanetti as a main piece of the Nerazzurri furniture. Despite getting to the latter stages of the Europa League, last season is still considered a disappointing season by Inter's standard; injuries to key players like Milito and the issues relating to the transfer position of Wesley Sneijder derailed the Inter Locomotive with the team eventually finishing a disappointing 9th on the table.
The comeback Kings: AC Milan
As at October, who would ever have expected the mighty Milan to be lanquishing in the bottom half of the table; at some point close to the relegation places with a form of just one win in five games. Stories and rumours started surfacing that Massimo Allegri would get the boot soon as he had not playing to the president's instructions and trying to be his own man; guess who comes to Milan's rescue? Mino Riaola. The signing of Mario Balotelli in the January transfer window has to be one of the most influencial signings of the mid season window since the January transfer window was introduced. Mario Balotelli's contribution of 12 goals in 13 appearances with 6 man of the match displays revived Milan to finish at a very impressive third despite their very poor start. Mino Raiola does his magic once again, this time around aiding Milan to bounce back after weakening the Rossoneri in the first place with the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Massimo Allegri was able to do himself a word of good by rejuvenating the squad from a rather hopeless position especially with the amount of departures Milan had at the back end of the previous season.
Title Contenders: Juventus and Napoli
If you ask me i think the Old Lady found it quite easy to deliver its 29th(31st) scudetto, asides some minor hiccups during the course of the season especially when their unbeaten run from the previous season was extinquished in style by Inter inside the Juventus stadium as well as the suspension of Antonio Conte. No one could challenge or maintain a strong challenge on the Bianconeri all through the season, there was no sustained pressure from any of Serie A's top guns; Lazio tried hard to put themsleves in the equation, but evaporated as other engagements in the Europa League and the Italian Cup brought about distractions. Disappointingly for Juve, they would have loved to push further in the Champions League, but eventual winners Bayern Munich were too strong. Mino Raiola reared his head in Turin as well as there were certain games where Juve could have drop points that his client (Paul Pogba) was the difference between victory,defeat or nicking a point with man of the match performances in four of such games contributing 5 goals during the course of the season; how can we forget the two long range strikes in the same game that was the difference Juve needed. I do not think anybody expected the young Pogba to have such an effect so early on; even getting caps for the French National side with a man of match performance against Spain in a world cup qualifier.
Napoli on the other hand, blew hot and cold for the earlier part of the season; but later got their act together. Although, they did not run Juve close finishing 7points behind; the Naples outfit always delights with their brand of football; playing the 3-4-2-1 to perfection; of course having the lethal Edison Cavani in your team must count for something ably supported by Marek Hamsik and Goran Pandev. Napoli showed that they could cope admirable with the departure of Ezekiel Lavezzi to get the team to play some of the best football in Serie A. Mazzari has now left for Inter Milan with Rafa Benitez coming in, it would be good to see what Napoli would look like next season especially in terms of the formation and approach.
Awards:
Player of the year: Edison Cavani (29goals in 34appearances); Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo ran him close but would have to be content with being Champions of Italy.
Young Player of the Year: Paul Pogba; Stefan El Shaarawy could have won it after returning 16goals for Milan, but seemed to go missing as Balotelli arrived.
Manager of the Year: Massimo Allegri; drove,pulled and pushed Milan to a third placed finish despite losing about 8 players that were well known as being part and parcel of the Milan Furniture.
Team of the Season: 3-5-2
Marchetti (Lazio)
Campagnaro (Napoli) Costa (Sampdoria) Chiellini (Juventus)
Pirlo (Juventus)
Vidal (Juventus) Candreva (Lazio)
Maggio (Napoli) Pasquale (Fiorentina)
Balotelli (Milan) Cavani (Napoli)
