Thus far, 2026 has been chastening for the fallen giants of world football. For Italy, it has been the year of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bodo/Glimt, the Balkan team meaning a third consecutive World Cup took place without the Azzurri, the Norwegian side eliminating Internazionale from the Champions League. There were other indications of decline – a Champions League table with the reigning Scudetto winners Napoli in 30th or Italy’s sole representatives in the last 16, Atalanta, going down 10-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich – and they combined to paint a bleak picture.

So if Serie A returns with the sense its best days are behind it, some of its historic forces have the same feel. And yet that provided some of the drama last season: two of Italy’s three most decorated clubs, AC Milan and Juventus, spurned promising positions to miss out on Champions League qualification. They will instead be the biggest clubs in the Europa League after being leapfrogged by Cesc Fabregas’ insurgents from Como. The third of Italy’s traditional powers, Inter, cruised to their 21st Scudetto in Cristian Chivu’s first campaign in charge; equalling his predecessor Simone Inzaghi’s total of Serie A titles was at least compensation for faring far worse in Europe.

His rivals this year are set to be a mixture of the familiar, with Serie A’s capacity to recycle its managers, and an intriguing newcomer. A division where clubs have been starved of funds features two expensive arrivals from Paris St-Germain, charged with bringing goals to the underachievers, and a further influx of English defenders.

Chivu will share San Siro with Ruben Amorim who, in the way Serie A’s fortunes have nosedived, seemed the man AC Milan ended up with rather than perhaps wanted, given interest in Oliver Glasner and Andoni Iraola. It is nevertheless an opportunity the Portuguese did not earn with his wretched spell in charge of Manchester United.

He will presumably import his flagship 3-4-3; whether Luka Modric, who turns 41 next month, wants to be in a central-midfield duo remains to be seen but Milan have backed Amorim by allowing him to make the biggest signing in the Serie A summer: his fellow Portuguese Goncalo Ramos for a club record €74m (£63.3m). It at least should ensure wingers Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic are no longer an ersatz strike duo, even if Amorim’s record with centre-forwards was better in Portugal than England.

Ramos was liberated from the PSG bench. He used to be joined there, before an unsuccessful loan at Tottenham, by Randal Kolo Muani, who has returned to Juventus, another to borrow him before. A potential €50m (£42.8m) fee means he has to spearhead a new-look attack, with the younger talents of Kenan Yildiz and Kerim Alajbegovic, a €32m (£27.4m) arrival from Bayer Leverkusen. Luciano Spalletti, who walked into a struggling side when Igor Tudor was sacked, is reshaping his forward line with Dusan Vlahovic going after an underwhelming and expensive spell and after last year’s striking additions Jonathan David and Lois Openda struggled.

Inter, meanwhile, already had the capocannoniere last season, Lautaro Martinez, and the player with most assists, the division’s MVP Federico Dimarco. The presence of players at their peak allows Chivu to continue his task of making the nerazzurri younger. Buying back his old teammate Dejan Stankovic’s son Aleksandar is a nod to a Champions League-winning past. Four of Inzaghi’s veterans are gone, in Francesco Acerbi, Matteo Darmian, Yann Sommer and Stefan de Vrij, who have a combined age of 146. The buccaneering wing-back Denzel Dumfries, who has joined Real Madrid, may be the greatest loss of the departures. Djed Spence, less of a goalscorer but fresh from a remarkable World Cup, makes for a different replacement.

Even with Spence, Inter’s defence may not be that youthful next season. Signing John Stones, and reuniting him with Manuel Akanji, gives them a player who should suit the pace of play as well as Chivu’s 3-5-2. It also provides Thomas Tuchel with reasons to visit Italy on defensive scouting trips, with Trevoh Chalobah moving to Como, though it remains to be seen if Fikayo Tomori, potentially the latest in the list of players exiled by Amorim, will still be at AC Milan.

At Como, Fabregas has also kept the precocious Nico Paz, though Real Madrid retain an option to buy the playmaker back. A challenge for the Spaniard will be to juggle domestic and European football. Roma, propelled by the goals of the mid-season arrival Donyel Malan, will join them in the Champions League. Gian Piero Gasperini, who won his power struggle with Claudio Ranieri, has further bolstered his attack with the €35m (£30m) signing of Bologna’s Santiago Castro, while Portuguese wonder kid Rodrigo Mora brings more potential to the Eternal City.

Napoli’s big summer striking signing was one set up last summer: Rasmus Hojlund, after a successful loan, and his purchase triggered now. An issue for new manager Massimiliano Allegri, however, is that his predecessor Antonio Conte’s capacity to spend big meant much of his transfer budget was already committed. Though Romelu Lukaku is gone to Fenerbahce, Allegri, sacked by Milan, will have to use many of his predecessor’s players, Scott McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne among them, in his search for his seventh Scudetto. That the sixth came back in 2019 suggests he is in decline; Napoli may be too.

But Serie A can specialise in finding new homes for its familiar faces on the managerial merry-go-round. Maurizio Sarri, who left Lazio for a second time, is now at Atalanta, and shorn of the Chelsea-bound Marco Palestra. Ivan Juric, who joined the Bergamo club last year, is now at promoted Monza; it may not bode well that his last three jobs have only spanned 12, 16 and 15 games respectively.

There are reminders of the happier days when Italy were World Cup winners; of the 2006 team, Gennaro Gattuso is now manager of Lazio, replacing Sarri, and Fabio Grosso has joined Fiorentina, who have moved on from Paolo Vanoli, even though he kept a team who failed to win in their first 15 games up. They should not be in a second successive relegation battle: the Viola have spent heavily and also borrowed Franco Mastantuono from Real Madrid.

That seven different clubs have finished in the top four in the last three seasons can offer encouragement to the ambitious. That Inter look overwhelming favourites suggests the battle for fourth could be contested more than the one for first; Juventus may be their closest challengers. But while Serie A can be compelling in itself, its standing and self-esteem will depend in part on results against outsiders. The Italians could do with making the right kind of impression in Europe again.