The big-ticket items for his season are easy enough to piece together. We know we’re probably in for another three-team title race in the Premier League between Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City; they have, after all, vacuumed up the top three spots for the past two seasons and the top two for six of the past seven. We know it’s probably Barcelona vs. Real Madrid in LaLiga, considering they’ve combined for 19 of the last 21 titles (and 64 of 94 all-time).

We know Bayern Munich are heavy favorites in the German Bundesliga, while Paris Saint-Germain are whatever is five steps beyond “heavy” in France’s Ligue 1. The Italian Serie A can see some plot twists from year to year, thankfully, but we pretty much know the main cast of characters for all of European soccer’s storylines.

We also know that those big stories aren’t why we watch, especially in August. Even with predictable title races, each season has its own personality and its own set of plotlines. With the Premier League and LaLiga having just gotten underway, and the Bundesliga and Serie A following suit this weekend, here are 10 fun plots I’m particularly interested in following.

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1. The new Liverpool and Manchester City attacks look fun (and their defenses look vulnerable)

Liverpool and Manchester City, winners of each of the last eight Premier League titles, both spent big to fatten up their attacks this summer. After comfortably winning the Premier League last season, Liverpool didn’t rest on their proverbial laurels. In addition to signing star Mohamed Salah to a new contract, they spent a combined €220 million in transfer fees to bring in Bayer Leverkusen‘s Florian Wirtz and Eintracht Frankfurt‘s Hugo Ekitike. They’re still rumored to be pursuing Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, as well, and they acquired two full backs (Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez) who generally seem more confident in attack than defense. In Liverpool’s first two matches of this season — the Community Shield against Crystal Palace and the Premier League opener against AFC Bournemouth — they scored six goals, with Ekitike and Wirtz combining for two goals and two assists.

– Marcotti: The obscure FIFA rule that could help Isak exit Newcastle
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City, meanwhile, wasted no time once the summer window opened, quickly adding midfielder Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan), winger Rayan Cherki (Lyon) and attack-friendly left back Rayan Aït-Nouri (Wolves) in an attempt to replenish their stock of creativity. It quickly paid off: City scored 16 goals in four FIFA Club World Cup matches, then began the Premier League campaign with a 4-0 stomping of Wolves. Cherki had two goals and an assist in the Club World Cup; Reijnders had a goal and an assist on Saturday.

These two clubs have played a total of seven matches since acquiring their new stars, and they’ve scored 26 combined goals. These are sexy new attacks, yes, but they’ve made opponents’ attacks look awfully prolific of late, too.

In two matches, Liverpool have already blown three leads. They led 1-0 and 2-1 against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, but gave up equalizers both times and lost on penalties. Then, last Friday against Bournemouth, they watched a 2-0 lead disappear in about 13 minutes before scoring twice late to win 4-2. City, meanwhile, played two decent teams (Juventus, Al Hilal) in the Club World Cup and allowed six goals against them, eventually falling 4-3 in extra time to Al Hilal in the round of 16. Frimpong, Kerkez and Ait-Nouri indeed all offer occasional defensive vulnerabilities, and City’s new creative duo, Cherki and Reijnders, are in no way known for their contributions to a decent pressing game.

Both Liverpool and City boast some of the world’s best center backs. City also have defending Ballon d’Or winner Rodri in defensive midfield, and Liverpool have a sturdy potential DM duo in Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch. But it’s become immediately clear that these mega-clubs might each have some serious, occasional issues in balancing attack and defense. That’s great news for neutrals, as it could mean occasional track meets. But will it prevent these teams from achieving their lofty list of goals this season?

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2. Can Xabi Alonso make Real Madrid press just a little?

Real Madrid are never going to be a haven for gegenpressing. Club president Florentino Perez acquires works of art and asks them to create beauty; sprints and hard-nosed defense are not as beautiful as moments of individual attacking brilliance.

This has brought a lot of trophies to Madrid, but there’s still a limit. Last season, Real Madrid went from forcing 10.9 high turnovers per game (solid) with 46.5 ball recoveries (solid) in league play in 2023-24 to 9.5 high turnovers (mediocre) and 40.6 ball recoveries (poor) as they ceded the league title to an utterly hyperactive Barcelona.

An epic run of injuries at the back of the defense obviously didn’t help — David Alaba, Dani Carvajal, Ferland Mendy and Antonio Rüdiger all endured significant spells on the sidelines — but it’s almost impossible to have a decent high-pressing game when Kylian Mbappé is your man up front. He remains one of the best goal scorers in the world, but let’s put it this way: There were 42 LaLiga forwards who scored at least five goals last season; his 1.1 ball recoveries per 90 minutes ranked 42nd. Even Barcelona’s 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski and Espanyol’s 35-year-old Kike Garcia pressed more.

When Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen won the league in 2023-24, they led the press-happy Bundesliga in both high turnovers (14.4 per match) and ball recoveries (54.3). They got plenty of artistic flair from Wirtz and others, and their possession game was as tight as could be — something that shouldn’t be even a slight issue in Madrid — but they also ran, and ran, and ran. Alonso is an adaptable coach and he knows that he’ll only be able to selectively ramp up the pressure with Los Blancos. But there’s a bare minimum, and they didn’t hit it last season.

Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Osasuna to open their LaLiga campaign didn’t tell us much; Osasuna were the most counterattacking team in Spain’s top flight last season, and gave Real Madrid as much of the ball as they wanted. Alonso’s team finished with 70% possession, despite forcing only five high turnovers; their transition game was excellent, and that was all that mattered — they only allowed two shot attempts all game. Against teams that actually attempt buildup play, we’ll find out what a Real Madrid press has to offer.

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3. Who’s No. 2 (or No. 1?) in the Bundesliga?

It’s pretty angsty in the Bundesliga this season. Bayern Munich failed to land Wirtz, then lost Jamal Musiala for months due to a bad ankle injury at the Club World Cup; Alphonso Davies is out for a while longer, too. Bayern added Liverpool winger Luis Díaz to a revamped attack and still have loads of star power, but they also have maybe their thinnest squad in 15 years. Injuries and/or simple wear and tear could render them vulnerable to a challenge … but all of the normal challengers — Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt — have their own issues to deal with at the moment. They all have some intriguing upside, too.

Leverkusen lost Wirtz, Alonso, Frimpong, Granit Xhaka and Jonathan Tah in a single summer. But they still have a roster loaded with peak-age or near-peak talent, from Victor Boniface and Malik Tillman up front, to Edmond Tapsoba and new arrival Jarell Quansah in the back.

Dortmund appear to be stuck between moving on from an aging generation of stars and trying to lean on those stars for a little while longer. But they were also the best team in the league down the stretch, and held on to every starter from that run while also adding Jobe Bellingham. I actually made a surprise BVB title push my bold prediction for 2025-26. (I’m sure that won’t backfire.)

Leipzig are coming off their worst-ever Bundesliga finish (7th) and are undergoing even more of a youth movement than normal. They are so overflowing with speedy 22-and-under talent that I joked to my editor how the organization is trying to bait Jurgen Klopp into coming back and coach it. “It would be like coaching Borussia Dortmund in 2009 all over again!”

Eintracht were rewarded for making some spectacular signings by losing those signings in short succession: Omar Marmoush to Manchester City for €75 million in January, then Ekitike for €95 million this summer. But they added sturdy veterans like attackers Ritsu Doan and Jonathan Burkardt to a lineup still loaded with young hotshots like midfielders Hugo Larsson and Can Uzun.

The odds from the Opta supercomputer give Bayern only a 52% title chance. That’s low by their standards. If a couple of these contenders have their acts together, we could be in for a surprising Bundesliga campaign. Or at least a fun race for second.

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4. Do Barcelona become even more watchable (and maybe not in a good way)?

Hansi Flick’s first Bayern team, which he took over in November 2019 after Niko Kovac was fired, turned out to be one of the most incredibly watchable teams I’ve seen. Waves of pressure, waves of attack, and eventually waves of trophies (Bundesliga, DfB-Pokal, Champions League, German Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup).

His second Bayern team might have been even more entertaining, but not for the best reasons. The attacking and pressing remained relentless, but the breakdowns in transition defense soon picked up. They went from allowing 0.7 to 1.3 goals per match and fell from fourth to seventh in the league in xG allowed per shot, from 10th to 15th in xG margin from counterattacks and from 15th to 17th in the percentage of shots allowed with at least two defenders between ball and goal. These are relatively subtle shifts, but it rendered them vulnerable enough to suffer an early DfB-Pokal upset to second-division Holstein Kiel, and a chastening Champions League quarterfinal exit against PSG.

Honestly, Flick’s first Barcelona team last season might have been even more watchable than 2019-20 Bayern. He crafted just about the most dangerous high defensive line imaginable, and Barca topped 100 league goals for the first time since 2016-17, reaching the Champions League semifinals for the first time since 2018-19. Lewandowski scored 42 goals in all competitions (his most since joining Barca in 2022), Raphinha became an unexpected Ballon d’Or candidate, and then-17-year-old Lamine Yamal‘s nuclear development continued.

Flick is just about the most optimistic coach in major European soccer, and his teams are impossibly fun to watch. But maintaining such a high level of structure and pressure is a high-wire act, and it’s hard to maintain. Annual financial concerns rendered Barca relatively quiet in the transfer market — they added Man United forward Marcus Rashford on loan (and just narrowly got him registered) and made a potential goalkeeper upgrade in landing Joan García from local rivals Espanyol. Depth could be an issue, but the single biggest question might simply be: can Barca maintain their defensive intensity and sharpness in a way that even Bayern couldn’t?

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Last year, Napoli loaned out Victor Osimhen to Galatasaray, sent Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG in a €60 million permanent move, and won the Scudetto anyway thanks to Antonio Conte’s brilliant defensive structure, excellent work from defenders Amir Rrahmani and Giovanni Di Lorenzo (among others), 14 goals and 10 assists from veteran Romelu Lukaku and, of course, the industrious, box-crashing work of surprise league player of the year Scott McTominay.

The 2020s haven’t produced a single repeat winner in Serie A, and at the very least Inter Milan should provide a major obstacle in Napoli’s repeat attempts. But they’re going to have a shot at a third title in four years, in part because they just added one of the best talismans of the 21st Century.

Over his final nine seasons at Manchester City, De Bruyne recorded at least 2,000 league minutes five times; in those five seasons, he averaged 9.8 goals and 15.4 assists. His per-minute contributions remained strong over the past couple of seasons, but he succumbed to a run of injuries and left City on a free transfer when his contract expired. Instead of taking the near-retirement path and joining MLS, however, the 34-year-old decided to move to Naples. With a more tactical focus and a lower degree of pure tempo and physicality, Serie A toes the line between high quality and old-age friendliness better than any major league, and with such a high-effort midfield partner in McTominay, it sure feels like De Bruyne is in a great position to thrive.

Lukaku is expected to miss a few months of action with a thigh injury, which will put pressure on new forward Lorenzo Lucca to thrive quickly. But it can’t hurt that he’ll be fed opportunities by the best creator of the 2020s.

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6. Loads of young attacking talent in the Premier League

Never mind the big names. The Premier League is overflowing with fun, young attacking talent at the moment, and a lot of the most intriguing guys didn’t come with the same level of hype as Benjamin Sesko (Manchester United), Wirtz (Liverpool), Ekitike (Liverpool), Cherki (Man City), Jamie Gittens (Chelsea), and so on. A couple of them made a huge impact in the first weekend of the season, too.

Habib Diarra (21) and Elieze Mayenda (20), Sunderland. Sunderland earned promotion with a ridiculously young squad in 2024-25, they added even more young talent this summer, and a couple of their most-important players came up big in their 3-0 blowout of West Ham last weekend. At the age of 19, Mayenda had 10 goals and five assists and led the EFL Championship in successful one-vs.ones in the box last season; he scored Sunderland’s first goal on Saturday with a brilliantly placed dink of a header. Diarra, meanwhile, attempted two of the Black Cats’ four most high-value shots against West Ham after arriving from Strasbourg as the club’s record signing. He started for 2.5 seasons in Ligue 1 and won’t turn 22 until January.

I’m not sure if Sunderland can ride all this young energy to a spot outside the relegation zone, but it’s going to be fun watching them try.

Estêvão (18), Chelsea. Young Brazilian talent often fails to make an impact in the big leagues, and Chelsea basically treat young players like rows in an Excel sheet, moving them to and fro in an attempt to free up more spending money. But Estêvão might be too talented for any of that to matter. In his lone campaign in Brazil’s Serie A, having just turned 17, he scored 13 goals with nine assists in barely 2,000 minutes. And while he couldn’t prevent Chelsea from suffering a sluggish 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace to start the season, he led the team in both xG created (0.34) and xA created (0.37) despite playing just 36 minutes. (xA: Expected assists from completed passes.) He completed all seven of his passes and managed to attempt six 1v1s in a short amount of time.

Estevao is a Grade-A, certified Stuff Tryer, and he could be a delightful bench presence for Chelsea this season.

Thierno Barry (22), Everton. He’s 6-foot-5, and he enjoyed an 11-goal, four-assist campaign with Villarreal last season. It might take him a little while to find his footing in a more physical league, but he won 67% of his aerial duels last season. Known for using his size really well to help his teams up front, that should eventually translate to Premier League success.

Elliot Anderson (22), Nottingham Forest. I’m throwing a defensive midfielder onto the list simply to point out his extreme importance in Forest’s transition attack. Anderson’s 346 combined progressive passes and carries last season trailed those of only defender Murillo and attacker Morgan Gibbs-White. He is a vital link in the chain, and he began 2025-26 brilliantly, with a team-leading 13 progressive passes in Forest’s 3-1 win over Brentford.

Charalampos Kostoulas (18), Brighton. We simply assume future greatness from any young Brighton signee at this point, but it’s particularly easy with Kostoulas. Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler is going to slowly ease him into the team thanks to both his age and a minor summer injury, but the simple fact that he scored seven goals in 1,200 league minutes with Olympiacos last season at age 17 — in a physical and veteran-heavy Greek Super League — is a spectacular sign. I can’t wait to watch this guy develop.

That’s six guys to watch in just 600 words, and I didn’t even mention Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh (21), Fulham‘s Josh King (18), Leeds’ Wilfried Gnonto (still somehow only 21) or other exciting younger attackers who have already made decent contributions in 2025-26.

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7. Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahce vs. Besiktas

Between the passionate crowds and the ongoing presence of aging former Premier League stars, the Turkish Super Lig is typically pretty interesting to follow. Turkish clubs occasionally come up big in Europe, too: Galatasaray took a win and a draw from Manchester United to eliminate them from the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League, for instance, while Fenerbahce made the UEFA Conference League quarterfinals that same season.

After a year of meager European success, the league’s heavyweights — the three clubs that have combined for 75 of Turkey’s 96 domestic titles — all took pretty big swings in the transfer market.

Galatasaray somehow found €75 million to sign Osimhen permanently and added free-agent Leroy Sané as well. Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce brought Jhon Durán to Istanbul on loan, despite already having Youssef En-Nesyri. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Besiktas added not only Tammy Abraham, but also midfielder Orkun Kökçü, who made a number of excellent attacking contributions (14 league goals, 15 assists) in two seasons at Benfica. Throw in an interesting upstart in Thomas Reis’ Samsunspor, which finished third last season and added more than they lost this summer, and you’ve got yourself a particularly interesting race to follow.

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8. Can Gian Piero Gasperini make Roma fun again?

I was honestly hoping he would never leave Atalanta, but after nine frequently brilliant seasons in Bergamo, highlighted by six top-four finishes and the 2024 Europa League crown, Gasperini, 67, left for Italy’s capital. He’s the club’s fourth manager in the 18-odd months since Mourinho was fired; Roma were 12th in Serie A when Claudio Ranieri took over last season, and while he guided them to a strong finish with his lowest-common-denominator ball, they scored only 56 league goals last season. Roma haven’t topped even 70 goals since 2019-20. With Gasperini’s high-intensity 3-4-3 attack, Atalanta topped 90 goals twice and averaged 78 per season over his last seven years. They didn’t spend like Italy’s richest clubs, but they scored like one.

Roma didn’t make any massive player moves this summer, at least in the attacking department — Abraham left on loan for Besiktas, while forward Evan Ferguson (Brighton) and winger Leon Bailey (Aston Villa) arrived on loan from the Premier League. But in theory, a team that already employed forward Artem Dovbyk (for now), Paulo Dybala (when healthy) and winger Matìas Soulè shouldn’t need that much attacking help. They just need that talent to be unlocked.

Gasperini is unique and demanding, but if everything clicks, Roma could be a major Serie A and Europa League threat.

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9. A top-division Hamburg Derby!

St. Pauli played their first Bundesliga campaign in 14 years last season, but we didn’t get a top-division Hamburg Derby because Hamburger SV, the city’s primary club and a former European champion, were still stuck in the second division. But after seven years of frustration, the Rothosen are back as well. They ripped off a long winter unbeaten streak under young manager Merlin Polzin (34) and finished second in the 2. Bundesliga, and did an interesting job of bringing in both veterans — namely, longtime RB Leipzig forward Yussuf Poulsen — and near-peak talent like winger Rayan Philippe (13 goals and six assists at Eintracht Braunschweig last season), midfielder Nicolai Remberg (Holstein Kiel) and goalkeeper Daniel Peretz (loan from Bayern).

St. Pauli, meanwhile, will be leaning heavily on continuity and defense to stay up. Despite a poor start and a league-low 28 goals, they finished 14th last season, seven points above the automatic relegation zone. They added attackers Mathias Pereira Lage (Brest), Ricky-Jade Jones (Peterborough) and Andreas Hountondji (loan from Burnley), but only Lage has produced much in a Big Five league, and the incredible pirate-ship club enters the season with the sole goal of outlasting Hamburg, Koln, Heidenheim, Hoffenheim and perhaps Union Berlin or Augsburg in the German relegation fight.

All of this gives this season’s Hamburg Derby high stakes, and we don’t have to wait long for the first one either: St. Pauli will visit the Volksparkstadion next Friday, August 29, on ESPN+ (U.S. only)!

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10. Union St.-Gilloise and (hopefully) Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League!

“Perennial also-ran finds itself in the Champions League” might be my favorite soccer story genre. It was incredible watching the experiences of Union Berlin fans traveling to and hosting Real Madrid and Napoli in 2023-24, and Aston Villa fans got to sing the Champions League tune last season for the first time; in fact, their team went unbeaten at home in the competition and nearly pulled off a huge upset against PSG in the quarterfinals. Bologna fans, meanwhile, got to travel to Liverpool and Aston Villa, while also watching their team beat defending Champions League runners-up Dortmund.

We’re still waiting to find out who fills in the last remaining qualification spots in this year’s Champions League field. Bodo/Glimt are one step away from a berth just a few months after reaching the Europa League semifinals; watching them run circles around Porto and Lazio, among others, in their home stadium in the Arctic Circle was one of last year’s top UEFA delights, and watching a Real Madrid or Barcelona travel up to the Aspmyra Stadion would be incredible. But they have to take care of Austrian side Sturm Graz first.

In the meantime, we know Union St.-Gilloise will be in the field. One of the most well-run clubs of the 2020s, Union SG were in Belgium’s second division as recently as 2021, but with Brighton’s Tony Bloom serving as majority shareholder, they’ve become Belgium’s version of the Brighton Project, identifying and developing tons of thrilling young talent and nearly winning the Jupiler Pro League for three straight years before finally getting the job done in May. This might be the most positive and affecting example of multi-club ownership on record.

After another summer of wheeling and dealing, Union will welcome big-name clubs to Brussels and attempt to do damage with their latest round of young stars, including forward Promise David (24), midfielder Anan Khalaili (20), new midfielder Adem Zorgane (25) and new winger Raul Florucz (24). European soccer can often suffer from a “same names in the same places in the table of the same competitions” problem sometimes; new blood can make things fun.