The 2024-25 European soccer season is finally here! After months of waiting -- and with a brilliant summer of drama and excitement thanks to Euro 2024, the Copa America and the Olympics -- we are back with a new club season on the continent, and there's plenty to talk about.
Who's winning the Premier League? Can anyone topple Real Madrid in Europe? Will Bayern Munich reclaim their crown as the best of the Bundesliga? And which managers will do well -- or flame out -- at their new clubs?
We asked our writers to give us one bold prediction each for the season ahead. Read on if you dare ...
Arsenal will win the Premier League
Surely it's third time lucky for Mikel Arteta's side? Having pushed Manchester City close for the past two seasons, it's Arsenal's time to topple Pep Guardiola & Co. and claim top spot.
The Gunners have had a progressive summer, bolstering their already formidable defence -- last season's most miserly, with just 29 league goals conceded -- as Italy star Riccardo Calafiori arrived in July and they secured goalkeeper David Raya to a permanent deal. It sounds like they're close to bringing in Mikel Merino to bolster their midfield, and they've continued to refine their squad with several fringe players (Emile Smith Rowe, Mohamed Elneny and Cedric Soares in particular) moved on as well this summer.
With the other teams around the top two also improving albeit with lingering questions marks -- it remains to be seen how Liverpool fare under Arne Slot, for example -- you expect more teams to be taking points off one another at the top-end, while Man City may have the added distraction of Guardiola's long goodbye. (His contract at the Etihad expires in June 2025.) All of which adds up to Arsenal securing their first Premier League title since 2004. -- Tom Hamilton
Real Madrid will win the Champions League ... again
Does this even qualify as a bold prediction? Or is it just a statement of strong probability? Because right now Real Madrid winning the 2024-25 Champions League feels, in all honesty, extremely likely. They won it last season, and in 2022. In fact, in the past eleven seasons, they've won it six times.
Last season's Champions League was won without Madrid's number one goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois (injured until the final), without their nominal first-choice centre-back pairing (Éder Militão and David Alaba) and without a natural, elite centre-forward (sorry, Joselu). And now they've got Mbappé. Carlo Ancelotti knows the competition better than anybody else -- he's won it seven times -- the core of the team are now reaching their peak and the Santiago Bernabeu effect gives Madrid an unquantifiable X factor.
Look around Europe and ask yourself: Which teams would you really expect to stop them? Manchester City, you might say. But again, more often than not in recent years -- see 2022 and 2024 -- they haven't been able to, even when City have been demonstrably the better side. Get Madrid's name engraved on the trophy now. It's happening again. -- Alex Kirkland
Enzo Maresca will be Chelsea's worst managerial hire yet
Maresca has the toughest job in the Premier League as Chelsea head coach, and my bold prediction is that he won't last the season at Stamford Bridge.
The 44-year-old is the fifth person to occupy the position since BlueCo, the consortium that owns Chelsea, bought the club in May 2022, and he might just be the worst hire of the lot. That's not because Maresca lacks the ability to do the job -- he backed up his reputation as an emerging coach by guiding Leicester to the EFL Championship title last season -- but because he's walked into mission impossible at Chelsea, inheriting a squad of players largely ill-equipped to adapt to his deliberate style of play and having to accept an incredible churn of players both incoming and outgoing.
With Chelsea fans struggling to recognise the club as being anything close to that which won Premier League and Champions League trophies under previous owner Roman Abramovich, Maresca has already alienated some of the fanbase by backing the club decision to offload Conor Gallagher and force Trevoh Chalobah -- two home-grown players with deep roots and long histories in Blue -- to train away from the first-team.
With just one win in seven preseason games, fans upset with the owners and treatment of Gallagher and Chalobah and many unconvinced by Maresca's credentials, he is already battling against the tide before the season's even started. -- Mark Ogden
This will be Pep Guardiola's last season at Man City
Guardiola is entering the final year of his current contract at Etihad Stadium, but did make some positive noises over potentially extending during City's preseason tour to the United States. That obviously remains a possibility after such a sustained period of success -- featuring six Premier League titles (including the past four), City's first Champions League triumph and two FA Cups -- but there are circumstances on the horizon which make it more likely than ever before that the 53-year-old could call time on his stay in Manchester.
Most obviously, City's trial over 115 alleged breaches of Premier League rules begins in September. As ESPN reported earlier this week, the aim is for a final verdict -- including any appeal -- to be delivered by the end of the 2024-25 season. It is a complicated case in which City strongly refute all charges, and so any outcome is possible.
Victory would feel like vindication and validation all rolled into one. A damning verdict, however, could see City hit with a points deduction, or even demotion from the league. A transfer ban and a huge fine are other possibilities; some are even calling for City to be stripped of their recent honours if the evidence against them is overwhelming.
The environment in which Guardiola would have to continue as City boss may be particularly uninviting. Combine that with the rumours that there are members of Guardiola's backroom staff who, while not desperate to leave, are keen on a return to Spain, and the emergence of Arsenal as their toughest competitors since peak-Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, and Guardiola may decide that reaching a decade of service at City next summer could be the perfect time to quit. It would also give him a year to prepare for managing at the 2026 World Cup if he chose to move into international football, something he has talked about doing (although at his age there is still plenty of time for that).
City's dominance has raised difficult questions for the Premier League, but it will be a sad day whenever a visionary manager like Guardiola does depart. -- James Olley
Lamine Yamal to keep Barça in unexpected title race
Barcelona are in dreadful shape. As has been the story of the past three summers, financial problems are once again delaying player registrations while the club also deals with injuries to key players before the season begins. They have a tough start in LaLiga, away at Valencia and at home to Athletic Club. New coach Hansi Flick is still getting familiar with new players, a new league and a new language. And, to top things off, Real Madrid have added Kylian Mbappé to a star-studded squad.
The easy prediction would be to say Barça will be miles behind their Clásico rivals -- or even drop further down the table.
The good news is they only have to play Madrid twice, though, and they have enough quality to beat everyone else in LaLiga. They may drop points early on, but as Pedri, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araújo return from injuries, they will improve. New signing Dani Olmo will also help in an attack led by Yamal, who will continue his incredible rise.
Yes, here we go again: Barça are perhaps relying on a 17-year-old to win them matches. But as he showed with Spain at the European Championship, the pressure does not get to him. He is already the headline act at Barça -- Yamal shirts were everywhere at Monday's Joan Gamper Trophy -- and you can feel the excitement in the stadium every time he is on the ball.
Barça may be in disarray off the pitch, but Yamal's impact will help them keep pace with Madrid, even if they ultimately come up short. -- Sam Marsden
Liverpool will do better with Slot than last season under Klopp
Replacing Klopp after nine successful years at Liverpool would not be easy for any manager in the world, not even Guardiola or Ancelotti. The German managed 491 games in all competitions for the Reds with a 62% win percentage (305 wins, only 86 losses and 100 draws). He won pretty much everything at least once, and his teams produced some of the best football English football has ever seen. So good luck to Arne Slot: he will need it, and a lot of it.
However, after almost a decade of the same voice (albeit a great one) in charge at Anfield, Klopp's departure gave the club an opportunity to bring in a new personality, with new ideas and a different style, which is arguably what a tired squad needed. Slot has brought it all. The preseason was great in terms of results and performances -- with big wins over Arsenal, Man United and Sevilla -- despite some players coming back late from their holidays after the Euros and Copa America. The Dutch manager has been a breath of fresh air so far.
Last season, Liverpool finished with 82 points, winning 24 of their 38 Premier League games with 10 draws and four defeats. They were almost perfect at Anfield with just one loss (against Crystal Palace) and three draws in their 19 matches and a +32 goal difference. Away was more difficult: nine victories, seven times sharing the points and three times on the losing side (at Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton). -- Julien Laurens
Bayern won't win the Bundesliga. Neither will Bayer Leverkusen
The sportsbooks tell a pretty clear tale about what is supposed to happen in the Bundesliga this season. Bayern Munich, whose 11-year title streak ended thanks in part to an all-time Bayer Leverkusen run, is a runaway title favorite. Leverkusen, the champ, is a clear No. 2.
Of course, this makes sense. Bayern's roster is far more valuable than anyone else's in Germany, and it only became more valuable with the addition of winger Michael Olise, midfielder João Palhinha and center-back Hiroki Ito this summer. Oh, and last season, they easily produced the best overall xG differential despite finishing third, which suggests poor fortune played a role in the end of their title streak. Bayer Leverkusen, meanwhile, has basically kept the band together -- manager Xabi Alonso, string-puller Florian Wirtz and everyone else -- while adding Aleix García, one of LaLiga's best midfielders in 2023-24.