2024/25 Serie A Team of the Season at the halfway point

With the halfway point of the campaign nearing and a new year already underway, let’s take a look at the 2024/25 Serie A Team of the Season so far.

A seriously thrilling Serie A title race awaits fans in the second half of the campaign with reigning Europa League winners Atalanta, a resurgent Napoli, and defending champions Inter Milan all within a point of each other at the top of the table.

There have been so many surprises beyond those three, too, with Fiorentina rising into title contention and Lazio chomping at the bit while an undefeated Juventus and a struggling AC Milan are trying to prove they still belong in the Scudetto race.

Since most teams in the league are gearing up for their 18th or 19th match of the campaign and the calendar already at 2025, it’s time to deliver the 2024/25 Serie A Team of the Season at the midway point.

GK David de Gea, Fiorentina

Fiorentina goalkeeper David de Gea is the best individual comeback story in all of European football, as he’s been the best keeper in the Italian top flight after previously being written for dead as a “finished” player at Manchester United.

Formerly in the discussion as the world’s best keeper, De Gea is back on top in 2024/25 with a save percentage of 78.6 and just 0.86 goals allowed per 90 as a massive upgrade between the sticks for the Viola.

De Gea had not been a starter in league play since the 2022/23 season with Man United, and now his save percentage is more than seven points higher as the unquestioned best goalkeeper in Serie A, which boasts the most goalkeeping talent in European football.

LB Nuno Tavares, Lazio

Inter Milan will dominate the 2024/25 Serie A Team of the Season, and they could have had another star player in the XI at left back in Fedeerico Dimarco. But Lazio are among the teams in the title race, too, and they deserve to have one of their stars in the lineup.

Nuno Tavares is starting to cool off in the last couple of weeks, but the former Marseille star has to be in the lineup for his contributions throughout the 2024/25 campaign as the Biancocelesti’s best player.

The 24-year-old has posted a whopping 8 assists with 4 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game, making him one of the most effective attacking threats from the fullback position in the world.

CB Alessandro Buongiorno, Napoli

Alessandro Buongiorno battled with another “Alessandro”, Inter’s Bastoni, as the best defender of the 2023/24 Serie A season, and, right now, he probably has the Nerazzurri star beat for his impact on Napoli this season.

Napoli are back in the Scudetto race after collapsing in 2023/24 without Luciano Spalletti or any semblance of a stable manager, as Antonio Conte has come in and righted the ship with a, quite frankly, less talented squad than the one in 2022/23.

But Buongiorno is one of the few upgrades. He is a sensational center back who rarely makes mistakes and frequently recovers the ball. He’s even better this season for the Partenopei than he was last year for Torino.

CB Alessandro Bastoni, Inter Milan

Even though he is a center back, Alessandro Bastoni is one of the best players in the world due to his physical tools, technical ability, and consistency. He is one of the crown jewels of an Inter side littered with talent at all positions.

On the left side of the back three, Bastoni makes brave runs to support Dimarco so that the left midfielder can rove inside. He rarely gets beat, knows exactly when to clear danger, and playmakes like a regista with his uncanny accuracy from deep.

RB Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Napoli

Fiorentina’s Dodo deserves serious merit here, but it’s difficult to choose against the age-old Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who was the best right back in the world in the 2022/23 season when he captained Napoli to the Scudetto.

Di Lorenzo has bounced back from a mildly disappointing 2023/24 campaign and a poor Euros that drew the ire of Italy fans, as he is back on top as the best player in his role in Serie A.

The 31-year-old has 4 goal contributions with 3.2 combined tackles and interceptions per game and 1.4 key passes per match.

CM Hakan Calhanoglu, Inter Milan

Inter Milan’s regista, Hakan Calhanoglu has blossomed into one of Serie A’s best leaders. As a mercurial playmaker in the Bundesliga about a decade ago, few could have predicted his transition into an even better world-class midfielder and anchor for Serie A’s champions in 2024.

Calhanoglu is one of the finest set piece takers in Europe, and, now, his defending has reached star status in Serie A as a No. 6, anchoring the Nerazzurri almost flawlessly, even tucking in between center backs to add stability.

CM Nicolo Barella, Inter Milan

Whereas Calhanoglu is the anchor of the Inter midfield, Nicolo Barella is the bombarding engine, though, like the Turkish international, he has the world-class technical quality to change the game in an instant with a Goal or Assist of the Season contender.

Barella made the difference in a recent 3-0 win over Cagliari by producing the goods out of pure nothingness, and even as he can make the highlight reels with goals and assists, he truly separates himself by consistently making an impact with high energy on the offensive and defensive ends.

AM Nico Paz, Como

Right now, Nico Paz might be the most exciting playmaker in Serie A, and he may have even more staying power than last season’s breakout star Matias Soule. Paz is creating a bevy of chances and showing great close control in the final third to beat defenders.

The Como star is scoring and assisting at important times to deliver his side points as they look to stay alive in their first season in Serie A, and you would bet on them doing so because of Paz’s ability to pull up his teammates.

Under the tutelage of a Spanish playmaking legend who led teams to victory as a youngster, Cesc Fabregas, the Real Madrid academy product won’t be at Como for long and appears to be destined for a decade of greatness at the Champions League level.

AM Ademola Lookman, Atalanta

The best player in Serie A this season, Ademola Lookman earns that honor ahead of some other remarkable footballers, including a couple of great forwards on his own team in Italian international Mateo Retegui and Belgian breakout star Charles De Ketelaere.

Lookman has been one of Serie A’s best for a couple of seasons now, but he is truly putting it all together as a legitimate superstar in 2024/25. The Nigerian forward can play as a striker, attacking midfielder, or on either wing.

ST Marcus Thuram, Inter Milan

Lautaro Martinez has been better than the basic statistics indicate, but he’s still been second best at the striker position on his own team, with Marcus Thuram putting in shift after shift as an even more active forward in the dangerous Inter front line.

Thuram has been a godsend since joining the Nerazzurri, making the memory of 2020/21 Serie A MVP Romelu Lukaku a mere footnote. The French international has scored 12 goals this season while averaging 1.2 key passes and 1.4 fouls drawn per game.

Already one of the best all-around No. 9’s in the world before joining the Nerazzurri, Thuram has become a more precise finisher and even stronger in his hold-up play, and his decision-making just might be the best in the world at the position after a certain Harry Kane.

ST Moise Kean, Fiorentina

If David de Gea has been the best comeback story in Serie A this season, then his teammate Moise Kean has been a close second. Kean has been right behind Thuram as the best striker in Serie A this season with 11 goals and 3.4 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game.

A few years ago, Kean scored 13 goals in a season for PSG but had never come close to fulfilling his potential as a world-class striker after initially looking like a gem at Juventus as a teenager.

Kean’s return to Juve was a disaster, too, but, almost immediately, he is finding new life in Florence. The 24-year-old Italian No. 9 has always been a strong, well-rounded player, but he is putting it all together as a 2024/25 Serie A Team of the Season caliber striker, including with much-improved finishing as the centerpiece of a Fiorentina side that has a legitimate shot at the Scudetto.