Fabio Capello's Analysis of Serie A Title Race: Inter Leads
Fabio Capello has seen enough summers to know when a title race is real and when it is theatre. Two weeks from the start of the 2026-27 Serie A season, he looks at the table before a ball is kicked and sees one team already out in front.
Inter, in his eyes, are still miles ahead.
The former Milan and Juventus coach used his La Gazzetta dello Sport column to deliver a blunt verdict on the balance of power in Italy. The message was clear: the champions have a structure, an identity and a settled core. Their two great rivals are still fumbling for the blueprint.
“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 wrote, echoing the concern already splashed across the front page of Corriere dello Sport, which claimed the top clubs are collectively “missing” 20 starters with the season almost upon them.
Juventus: Not yet a Spalletti team
Capello knows what a Luciano Spalletti side looks like: drilled, aggressive, with clear patterns and a ruthless edge. Juventus, he argues, are not there yet.
“Juventus don't yet seem like a Luciano Spalletti side to me,” he observed, cutting straight to the heart of the issue. There are promising signs, but the frame is still bare.
He likes the ambition shown in the arrivals of Randal Kolo Muani and Kerim Alajbegovic, attacking pieces that hint at a more modern, vertical Juve. The problem lies behind them. The defence still needs tightening, and one position in particular alarms him.
“Juve still has a big problem and that is the goalkeeper,” Capello wrote. Michele Di Gregorio, on paper the new No.1, does not convince him. “I say that with all due respect to Michele Di Gregorio, but his situation seems irreversible to me.”
The market offers options. Zion Suzuki has been linked with a loan switch, potentially via PSG if he moves from Parma to Paris this summer. Capello, though, looks elsewhere. For him, there is a clear solution if Juventus opt for a short-term fix.
“Many names have been mentioned and from what I've seen, the Old Lady might prefer a ‘buffer’ option, postponing the spending until next summer. So, if a no.1 comes in on loan, I have no doubts about who to bet on: Vicario at Tottenham.
“The reason is simple. Compared to Suzuki, the Italian has already shown that he performs well at big clubs, like he has done in London.”
It is the kind of judgement that comes from decades on the bench: trust the goalkeeper who has already survived the pressure cooker, not the one still learning to live in it.
Milan: A construction site with doubts
If Juventus are incomplete, Milan, in Capello’s eyes, are something more chaotic: a project without visible shape.
“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 wrote. The image is brutal, and deliberate. A big club should not look this unfinished in mid-August.
What troubles him most is not only the gaps in the squad but the timing and attitude around the club’s biggest names. Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot, two pillars of the spine, have decided to extend their holidays and will return just a week before the league kicks off.
“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,” Capello admitted. The tone is one of irritation, not mild concern.
New signings have done little to calm him. “The new signings Gila and Ramos haven't been seen much either, nor has the clear starting XI that Amorim will have in mind.” The pre-season tour, including the friendly in Jakarta against Chelsea, has not yet revealed a defined structure under Ruben Amorim.
That lack of clarity bleeds into the club’s biggest individual storyline: Rafael Leao. For Capello, the winger has misread the room.
“I get the impression that there's still a bit of confusion around the Rossoneri, starting with Rafael Leao's situation. 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.”
It is a sharp warning. San Siro forgives genius, but not perceived arrogance without effort. One lazy track-back, one half-hearted sprint, and the mood can turn. Quickly.
Inter out in front
All of this, in Capello’s analysis, plays into Inter’s hands. While Juventus search for a goalkeeper and a defensive balance, and Milan try to work out who they are under Amorim, the champions carry on with continuity and conviction. The bridge to them, he suggests, is not just long; it is getting longer.
The clock, too, is not kind. “The clock is ticking,” he reminded readers, with less than a fortnight to go and those “missing” starters still scattered across the market.
So where does the hope lie for the chasing pack? For Milan, Capello points to one crucial meeting.
“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.”
Order. Identity. Decisions. That is what he demands from Milan’s hierarchy, and by extension from Juventus as well.
Inter already have those things. The rest of Serie A has 20 days to prove Fabio Capello wrong.
