Fabio Capello on Serie A Title Race: Inter Ahead of Juventus and Milan

Fabio Capello has seen enough summers to know when a title race is real and when it is wishful thinking. With less than two weeks to go before Serie A kicks off, he looks at the landscape and sees one certainty.

Inter, in his eyes, are still out in front. Comfortably.

The former Milan and Juventus coach used his La Gazzetta dello Sport column to deliver a blunt verdict on the chasing pack. The gap to the champions, he argued, is not just wide. It is becoming stubbornly resistant to change.

“The distance between them (Milan and Juventus) and Inter, the champions of Italy, seems difficult to bridge in such a short space of time,” Capello wrote. The clock is ticking, and he knows what an unfinished squad looks like in mid-August.

Juventus: Not a Spalletti team yet

Juventus, reshaped under Luciano Spalletti, still do not carry his signature, according to Capello. The patterns, the automatisms, the identity that defined Spalletti’s Napoli and Italy are not yet visible in Turin.

“Juventus don't yet seem like a Luciano Spalletti side to me,” he observed, before turning to the transfer work. He likes some of what he sees. The arrivals of Randal Kolo Muani and Kerim Alajbegovic offer power and promise, and they fit the modern, vertical game that Juve crave.

But the spine of any contender starts at the back, and that is where Capello’s alarm is loudest.

“Juve still has a big problem and that is the goalkeeper,” he wrote. Michele Di Gregorio, signed to be the new No.1, does not convince him, and he describes the situation as “irreversible”.

The market has thrown up various names. Zion Suzuki has been linked, with reports suggesting Juventus could move for him on loan from PSG if his transfer from Parma to Paris is completed. Capello, though, is unambiguous about who he would choose.

“So, if a no.1 comes in on loan, I have no doubts about who to bet on: Vicario at Tottenham,” he insisted. The reasoning is straightforward and ruthless. Guglielmo Vicario has already shown he can handle the pressure of a major club in a major league. London has hardened him. Suzuki, by contrast, still carries too many question marks at the very highest level.

Capello also points to a defence that still needs tightening. For a coach who built title-winning teams on organisation and discipline, the idea of Juve entering the season with doubts at the back is unthinkable. Inter, in his mind, will not drop to meet them; Juventus must rise, and they are running out of days to do it.

Milan: A construction site with no clear blueprint

If Juventus worry him, Milan unsettle him.

“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,” Capello wrote. It is a damning image: scaffolding still up, machinery lying around, and the opening day looming on the calendar.

The latest development that bothers him is the delayed return of two key figures. Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot have extended their holidays, choosing to report back only a week before the season starts.

“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,” he admitted. For a club trying to impose a new identity under Ruben Amorim, every training session counts. Losing days with the goalkeeper who sets the tone from the back and a midfielder expected to anchor the new system feels costly.

The new signings have not eased his concerns. “The new signings Gila and Ramos haven't been seen much either, nor has the clear starting XI that Amorim will have in mind,” Capello noted. Pre-season is supposed to reveal a framework, a skeleton of the team to come. Instead, Milan’s outline remains blurred.

From the touchline in Jakarta, where Amorim watched his side face Chelsea in a pre-season friendly at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, the Portuguese coach cut the figure of a man still searching. Searching for his best eleven. Searching for his best structure. Searching, above all, for clarity.

Leao and the mood at San Siro

Then there is Rafael Leao, and with him, the mood of an entire fanbase.

Capello senses a storm brewing. “I get the impression that there's still a bit of confusion around the Rossoneri, starting with Rafael Leao's situation,” he wrote. The winger’s public flirting with the Premier League has not gone unnoticed.

“Rafa overestimated himself by publicly calling for the Premier League and, if he stays, I would be wary of the San Siro reaction to the first time he fails to run.” That line cuts to the heart of the issue. Milan supporters adore talent, but they demand commitment. If Leao remains in red and black after talking up England, every half-hearted press, every slow recovery run, will be judged more harshly.

This is not just about tactics or transfers. It is about atmosphere. Harmony. The delicate bond between star player and stadium. If that cracks, Amorim’s job becomes even harder.

Inter out in front, rivals scrambling

All of this plays into Capello’s broader view of the title race. Inter, settled and sure of themselves, look ready. Their rivals look rushed.

At the start of the week, Corriere dello Sport highlighted that the top Serie A clubs still lack around 20 presumed starters between them. Capello agrees with the diagnosis: the market has been slow, the squads incomplete, the work unfinished. Inter, by contrast, resemble a team that can start tomorrow.

He sees Juventus and Milan still trying to solve fundamental problems while the season looms. Goalkeeper, defensive solidity, tactical identity, dressing-room hierarchy – these are not details to be ironed out in September. They are foundations.

So he looks to the boardroom. “I hope that the next meeting between Cardinale and Amorim will bring some order and provide the right boost to sort things out on the market heading into the final 20 days,” Capello concluded.

Inter wait at the summit. The question now is simple: can Juventus and Milan turn this construction work into a credible challenge before the first whistle blows, or has the new season already tilted towards the Nerazzurri before a ball is kicked?