Who is Serie A’s biggest star after Ronaldo’s exit?

Carlo Garganese

7 Sept 2021 15:59 BST
4 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus, 2021-22 — © ProShots

The summer of 2021 was a special one for the Italy national team as the Azzurri won their first European Championship for 43 years after defeating England on penalties at Wembley.

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However, it wasn’t all positive news for Italian football as a whole as Serie A lost a host of their biggest stars.

This included Gigi Donnarumma and Achraf Hakimi to PSG, Cristian Romero to Tottenham, Rodrigo de Paul to Atletico Madrid and Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea.

But from a marketing point of view, it was the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus to Man Utd that has hurt most.

So who is the biggest star or best player now that Ronaldo has gone?

Federico Chiesa (Juventus)

Federico Chiesa has succeeded Cristiano Ronaldo as the star around whom Juventus plan to build their team around.

Chiesa exploded during the 2020-21 season for club and country. He contributed an impressive 14 goals and 10 assists for Juve before being one of the stars at Euro 2020.

The electric winger scored crucial knockout goals against Austria and Spain and lit up the final itself/ Juventus rejected bids of €100 million this past summer.

Lautaro Martinez (Inter)

Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku formed arguably the best forward partnership not only in Italy but in all of Europe during their two years together at Inter.

With Lukaku now gone, Lautaro’s responsibility has increased massively. The Argentine played a pivotal rule in his country’s Copa America success in the summer and is now ready to do the same for Inter.

Like Chiesa, Lautaro is wanted by many of Europe’s biggest clubs and there is no denying that he is one of the most technically gifted forwards in the world.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio)

Milinkovic-Savic has been consistently the best midfielder in Serie A for a number of years now.

Possessing the physique of a heavyweight but the technique and skill of a middleweight, the Serbian has no weaknesses in his game.

He has been expected to leave Lazio for the last three summers now but president Claudio Lotito has consistently demanded a transfer fee of over €100m for him.

Theo Hernandez (AC Milan)

It may seem strange to pick a left back in this list as defenders are rarely considered superstars but Theo Hernandez isn’t really a defender!

Compared by many to a young Gareth Bale, the Frenchman is a devastating attacking force down the left-hand side.

With eight goals and seven assists last season, Theo posted numbers that the top midfielders in the league didn’t even manage.

Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli)

Just like Francesco Totti before him, Lorenzo Insigne sacrificed silverware to stay loyal to his hometown team throughout his career.

Last season he enjoyed the best season of his career individually for Napoli before being one of the stars at Euro 2020. His goal against Belgium in the quarter-final will live long in the memory.

At the age of 30, he is at the peak of his career.