The start of the season for some of the European soccer leagues has come and gone, and for a couple of the top six leagues, the start of the season hits this upcoming weekend. If you missed Part One of my predictions for the top six European soccer league winners, make sure to go check it out.

Part One covered the Premier League, La Liga, and Ligue 1. For Part Two, I will make my predictions for the winners of the Bundesliga, Serie A, and the Eredivisie. So with that, here is Part Two of my predictions for the winners of each top six European soccer league.

 

Eredivisie

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First up is the Eredivisie, as the Dutch league has already had their first matches of the season. Heading into the 2022/23 Eredivisie season, Ajax had won the league four years in a row and were the odds-on favorites. It was a disappointment for them when they finished third in the league, paving the way for Feyenoord to win it all. Ajax are the favorites once again heading into the 2023/24 season, but can they get back to the top of the league? 

Feyenoord would love to win the Eredivisie for the second straight year, and PSV would love to jump at an opportunity to win their first league title since the 2017/18 season.

Ajax have lost a group of important players this summer, with Jurrien Timber, Edson Alvarez, Calvin Bassey, and Dusan Tadic all leaving the club. Ajax has brought in some interesting pieces, such as Carlos Forbs from Man City’s U21 team, but is it enough to climb back to the top of the Eredivisie?

PSV’s biggest loss this summer was Xavi Simons (who could’ve easily been sold for €50 million, if not more) for just €4 million due to PSG activating their buy-back clause. However, PSV found a good replacement in signing Noa Lang from Club Brugge in Belgium for €12.5 million. They also brought in American Ricardo Pepi for €11 million from FC Augsburg and signed another USMNT player, Malik Tillman, on loan from Bayern Munich.

Feyenoord has lost an important piece of their midfield, with Orkun Kökcü leaving for Benfica for a fee of €25 million. There hasn’t really been a like-for-like replacement to come in yet, but Feyenoord did sign defensive midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki from FC Twente for €7.2 million. They also signed Calvin Stengs for €6 million and Ayase Ueda for €9 million.

My prediction is for PSV to win the league. The loss of Xavi Simons is definitely a big one, but I love the signing of Noa Lang. I do worry about a club activating Ibrahim Sangare’s release clause before the end of the transfer window, but that isn’t a guarantee to happen. So as of now, I pick PSV to win the Eredivisie.

 

Bundesliga

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The Bundsliga has been the league of domination. In the past eleven seasons Bayern Munich has reigned supreme at the top of the Bundesliga. Yes, they have won eleven straight league titles. Last season, it took Bayern until the final day of the season to clinch the title on goal differential, as Bayern and Borussia Dortmund were tied at 71 points.

Alongside Bayern and Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga was RB Leipzig, who finished third with 66 points. Leipzig had a run of 12 straight unbeaten matches that propelled them from 12th (after a lackluster first seven matches) up to third with 15 matches left. However, third place became their ceiling after they lost five of their next ten matches following the unbeaten run. Yet Leipzig ended the season strong, winning each of their last five league matches and taking home the DFB-Pokal (domestic cup competition in Germany). So with that, who wins the Bundesliga in the 2023/24 season?

Bayern have made some moves this summer, selling Sadio Mané to Al-Nassr for €30 million, Lucas Hernandez to PSG for €45 million, and Marcel Sabitzer to Dortmund for €19 million. However, Bayern has gone out and made some good moves by bringing in Harry Kane from Tottenham for €100 million to be their striker, as well as signing Kim Min-jae from Napoli for €50 million. Two more good pieces of business for Bayern were the acquisitions of Konrad Laimer from Leipzig and Raphaël Guerreiro from Dortmund.

Dortmund might have to endure the biggest loss from the Bundesliga, as they sold Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid for €103 million. They also lost Raphaël Guerreiro to Bayern on a free transfer, as stated earlier. Dortmund did go out and get Marcel Sabitzer from Bayern for €19 million, as previously stated, and they also signed Felix Nmecha for €30 million from Wolfsburg. Yet there hasn’t been much other business for Dortmund.

Leipzig, on the other hand, may have had the most active summer transfer window. Leipzig will be without three of their best players from last season after selling Josko Gvardiol to Man City for €90 million, Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool upon the activation of his €70 million release clause, and Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea for €60 million in a deal that was agreed to in the summer of 2022. On top of that, Konrad Laimer is off to Bayern on a free transfer. However, Leipzig may have had the most interesting and intriguing summer windows for who they bought. 

Leipzig bought Loïs Openda for €38 million from Lens, Castello Lukeba for €30 million from Lyon, Benjamin Sesko from RB Salzburg for €24 million, Cristoph Baumgartner from Hoffenheim for €24 million, Nicolas Seiwald from RB Salzburg for €20 million, and El Chadaille Bitshiabu from PSG for €15 million. Leipzig also signed Fabio Carvalho on a loan deal from Liverpool, but their best move was to acquire Xavi Simons on a season-long loan deal from PSG after PSG bought him back from PSV. And what’s scary is their potential to make even more signings, as they have spent €90 million less than what they have received in transfer fees this summer.

My pick to win the Bundesliga is going to be a bit of a shocker.

I’m going with RB Leipzig. I decided I was going to go this way before the DFL-Supercup between RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich, but Leipzig beating Bayern 3-0 made me feel extra confident with that pick. Bayern will prove to be a tough test, and Dortmund should be near the top of the league as well. But I believe Leipzig will shock the world and end Bayern’s streak of consecutive Bundesliga titles at eleven.

 

Serie A

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From the 2011/12 season to the 2019/20 season, Juventus had won nine Serie A titles in a row. However, three different teams have won the Serie A in the last three seasons, starting with Inter Milan in 2020/21, then AC Milan in 2021/22, and Napoli this past season. Inter Milan is the betting favorite heading into 2023/24, with Napoli close behind, followed by Juventus and AC Milan third and fourth in the betting odds. 

Reigning champions Napoli have brought in Giacomo Raspadori as their headline signing for €26 million. However, they have sold Kim Min-jae to Bayern Munich for €50 million, and their biggest loss might be the loss of their manager Luciano Spalletti. 

Inter Milan had a ton of departures this summer, as they sold Andre Onana to Manchester United for €52.5 million, as well as selling Andrea Pinamonti, Marcelo Brozovic, and more. They also lost Milan Skriniar and Edin Dzeko on free transfers, plus the loss of Romelu Lukaku when Inter and Chelsea could not agree to a deal to keep Lukaku in Milan. Inter did go out and acquire Yann Sommer from Bayern Munich for €6.75 million to replace Onana in goal. They also acquired Marcus Thuram and Juan Cuadrado on free transfers, among other moves.

AC Milan made the big decision to sell Sandro Tonali to Newcastle United for €64 million. However, they have kept the rest of their squad mostly intact while making a bunch of interesting signings. Christian Pulisic was signed from Chelsea for €20 million, and Milan also brought in his USMNT teammate, Yunus Musah, from Valencia for €20 million. Samuel Chukwueze was brought in for €20 million to play on the right wing, a position Milan needed to fill. Milan also acquired a couple midfielders, with Tijjani Reijnders arriving from AZ Alkmaar for €19 million and Ruben Loftus-Cheek coming over from Chelsea for €16 million. Milan also spent €14 million on Noah Okafor from RB Salzburg and snagged Argentine wonderkid Luka Romero on a free transfer from Lazio.

Juventus had an interesting summer transfer window, as their two biggest signings were Manuel Locatelli and Moise Kean, two players that had been on loan with Juventus for the last two seasons and have now made their stays official. Their two biggest sales were those of Dejan Kulusevski, who had been on loan at Tottenham for the last 18 months or so, and Denis Zakaria to Monaco following Zakaria’s year on loan to Chelsea (where he barely played). Those two sales brought in €50 million, and those two signings sent out €60 million, making a net expense of €10 million without changing the roster. The other important moves for Juventus are the losses of Juan Cuadrado and Angel Di Maria on free transfers as well as the signing of USMNT winger Timothy Weah from Lille for €11.3 million.

With all of that considered, my pick to win Serie A is AC Milan. I think the loss of Sandro Tonali is a massive one, but they needed to free up money to improve other parts of their team, which I believe they succeeded at. Rafael Leão is a star, and with the right cast around him I believe he could evolve into one of the best forwards in the world. And I think a jump from Leão, as well as having a better overall team around him, will push Milan to win their second Serie A in three seasons.

 

That wraps up Part Two of my two-part look at the six major European soccer leagues. If you missed Part One, go check it out to find out my predictions for the winners of the other three leagues. If there’s any input you have on soccer in Europe, the U.S., or just soccer in general, make sure to tweet it out to and to tag myself @derrik_maguire and @BleacherBrawl and let us know your thoughts.

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