Word on the street is that Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Gomez have brought Serie A back to life. If you're an avid Serie A follower, is this true?
However, before you answer that, and I don't know if you would agree, but Cristiano Ronaldo helped shed some light on what La Liga has to offer. He moved people's attention away from the English Premier League to La Liga. Many people started to follow La Liga only because CR7 signed for Real Madrid. Looking back, I also shifted some of my focus to La Liga because of CR7. I ended up knowing the whole Real Madrid squad ... I was engulfed.
Anyway, back to Tevez, Higuain and Gomez.
Tevez moved from Manchester City to join Juventus, while Higuain left Real Madrid to join Napoli and Gomez moved from Bayern Munich to Fiorentina.
Carlos Tevez
Not so long ago Tevez was fighting with then Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, Tevez took an unauthorised vacation, threatened to quit City and move closer to home because he missed his family, handed 250 hours of community service for driving offences, quit the national team and has made a move to Juventus and marked his debut with a goal against Lazio for the Italian Supercup. Hopefully Tevez has left his crazy antics at City and live up to the no. 10 shirt he wears at Juventus and close the gap Juventus had upfront. Maybe Tevez can be the one to score more than a dozen goals for Juventus, which hasn't happened since 2008. Importantly, can Tevez help Juventus defend their Serie A title?
Gonzalo Higuain
At first Higuain was linked with a move to Arsenal and everytime his name popped up in the Transfer Window, football supporters waited with bated breath but Napoli beat Arsenal for Higuain's signature. Not so long ago, Higuain had a back injury (that could've ended his career according to his doctor) and recently muscular problems and missed a lot of playing time. Is it a risk to sign a player who spends a large amount of his time injured? At first I thought, Cavani and Higuain would be great when paired together, but Cavani has flown the coup. Sharing the pitch with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, Higuain managed to score more than 100 goals for Real Madrid, imagine what he could do alone or with Lavezzi at Napoli.
Mario Gomez
For a while the German international had hinted at a move away from his German roots. However, he chose to move in the direction of the Italians. Maybe he understood how Lukas Podolski (when he was subbed 23 times during the 2012/13 Premier League campaign) felt. Last season Fiorentina finished 4th, just 2 points behind AC Milan. With the signing of Gomez, Fiorentina could finish in the top 3 this season. The German might have been a goal scoring machine for Bayern Munich, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same goes for Fiorentina. Gomez began his stint at Fiorentina with a goal that gave them a 2-1 win in a Europa League first leg qualifier. If he keeps this up, Gomez can help Fiorentina win their Europa League play-off round matches and at least gain access into the Europa League this season.
These 3 attackers are said to re-ignite the fire that used to burn brightly in Serie A. Which makes one wonder ... So before the new signings and departures, were the other Serie A footballers sleeping on the job? For instance ...
Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani, Stevan Jovetic, Javier Zanetti, Massimo Ambrosini, Alberto Aquilani, Gianluigi Buffon, Stephan El Shaarawy, Riccardo Montolivo, Daniele De Rossi, Francesco Totti, Diego Milito, Miroslav Klose, Antonio Di Natale etc.
I think not!
Surely the arrival of Tevez, Higuain and Gomez will bring more attention to Serie A. Hopefully, it will remind football lovers of the beauty of Italian football. Juventus, Napoli and Fiorentina will have more eyes on them than before, with viewers hoping to see a change in each club, hopefully a good change. A change that will make each club a bit more competitive and stronger. Maybe even get a place and stay even longer either in the UEFA Champions League or Europa League.
However, if people do not turn their eyes to Serie A or just Juventus, Napoli and Fiorentina don't appear to be stronger on the log, then I guess the fuss was about nothing.
