Top 4 surprises in Europe’s elite leagues this summer
The 2018/19 football season has begun and the first set of matches across Europe’s major leagues were concluded before the international break.
However, we witnessed some major surprises in the course of the transfer window this summer as well as in the course of the season thus far. We’ve mentioned then below:
1. Real Madrid witnessed the shock departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus this summer. Therefore, it was expected that Los Blancos would break the bank for a big money signing that would replace the Portuguese.
However, this was not the case as the club who were heavily linked with moves for Eden Hazard, Neymar, Mauro Icardi, and Kylian Mbappe, opted for none. Rather, only the likes of Alvaro Odriozola, Thibaut Courtois and Mariano Diaz arrived at the Bernabeu.
2. Sarriball is already gaining grounds at Stamford Bridge. For a club whose style of play was more about hitting opponents on the counter amid emphasis on defensive solidity, the Blues appear to have adapted nicely ahead of schedule to Sarri’s methods.
One would have thought they would have faced some early struggles to get to grips with Maurizio Sarri’s ideology. However, this has not been the case, as the Blues have dominated all 4 Premier League games under Sarri and have garnered maximum points from all 4 games played thus far.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to hit the ground running in the Serie A since his move to Juventus. The Portuguese was backed by a good number of pundits to take teams to the cleaners right from his first game in a supposedly less competitive Serie A.
Well, this hasn’t been the case for Ronaldo, although he has been impressive in the games he has played thus far for Juventus with 1 assist to his name.
4. Barely a handful expected Zinedine Zidane to resign from his Madrid job after leading Los Blancos to a third consecutive UCL win. However, another shocker was the club’s appointment of Julen Lopetegui as the speculators didn’t get wind of this one.
There are many more surprises thus far. Watford currently have 12 points from 4 games in the Premier League. No one saw this coming. Many more abound, but these are the ones that have caught our eyes thus far.
