🇮🇹 OneFootball's Serie A Season Awards 2023/24 | OneFootball

Another new name lifted the Scudetto following another exhilarating campaign in Serie A as Inter blew the competition away in style.

It is time to hand out our awards for season 2023/24.

Player of the Season 👏

It is hard to look past Lautaro Martínez, who ended the season as the runaway capocannoniere (top scorer) and Serie A champion.

The Inter skipper finished the campaign with 24 goals as well as three assists and is rightly set for summer talks over a new, improved contract.

He also made an interesting piece of history during the campaign too, scoring 15 times away from home. No Inter player has ever netted as many on the road in a single season.

But a special mention must go to Paulo Dybala. Were it not for injuries, he may have scooped this award as they limited him to 25 starts.

That was all he needed though to provide 22 goal contributions (13 goals and nine assists), with only compatriot Martínez managing more, and he also became the first man ever to win Serie A Player of the Month three times in a single season.

Young Player of the Season 👶

Juventus have a real gem on their hands with Matías Soulé if his exploits on loan at Frosinone are anything to go by.

He had looked promising but raw during previous outings with his parent club but given a chance with the newly-promoted side, he exploded onto the scene.

A direct, fearless dribbler with the end product to go with his mesmerising footwork, Soulé, who only turned 21 last month, he ended the season as one of just four players aged 21 or under in Europe’s top five leagues to hit double figures for goals, finishing his breakout year with 11 goals and three assists.

Surprise of the Season 🤯

Can only go to Napoli and their abject title defence.

Even after the departure of Luciano Spalletti, few could have anticipated things going quite this badly. After all, they kept star duo Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and there was reasonable optimism in Campania.

But president Aurelio De Laurentiis went through three coaches in trying to keep the magic alive, each choice of tactician as baffling as the one before it with Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona all brought in with little success.

It is the worst performance by a reigning champion in Serie A history, finishing 10 places and 37 points worse off.

Coach of the Season 👔

It could only be Thiago Motta.

We have long heard about his promise in the dugout, with the former Italy international famously scoring an unheard of 108/110 for the thesis he submitted at the famed Coverciano coaching school to obtain his pro licence, aptly titled ‘The Value of the Ball: The Tool of the Trade at the Heart of the Game’.

If you have watched his Bologna side, storming the division with their 4-2-3-1 system and swaggering youngsters, they’ve clearly inherited their coach’s love of the ball.

They finished a stunning season in fifth place, clinching a place in the Champions League for the first time in their history (they once competed briefly in the old European Cup).

It is no surprise that Juventus are being so strongly linked with taking him to Turin after Motta’s announcement that he will leave the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara this summer.

Signing of the Season 🤑

Given that there wasn’t a penny spent on a transfer fee, it is impossible to look beyond Inter’s acquisition of Marcus Thuram as anything other than the biggest success of the window.

In his maiden campaign in Milan, he finished up with 13 goals and seven assists. Two of those strikes were beauties in the derby – including the goal which delivered the championship.

Honourable mentions should also go to Christian Pulisic (Milan), Raoul Bellanova (Torino) and Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta) – more to come on him later.

Managerial Change of the Season 🔄

For the drama which surrounded it and the fallout which came afterwards, it has to be Roma’s bold decision to axe José Mourinho in January and replace him with club legend Daniele De Rossi.

The polarising Portuguese still had plenty of admirers at the time of his dismissal and eyebrows were raised at the decision to replace him with a rookie tactician whose only previous experience was a short and unsuccessful stint at SPAL.

But De Rossi was an instant hit with fans and players alike. He guided the side to the semi-finals of the Europa League and delivered an overdue Derby della Capitale win. It was enough to deservedly earn him the job on a full-time basis.

Biggest Improvement of the Season 📈

Charles De Ketelaere‘s reputation was on the line when he swapped Milan for Atalanta on loan (with an option to buy that will be taken up) after an underwhelming debut campaign at San Siro.

He failed to live up to the hype and big price tag and after just one season, they saw fit to send him across Lombardy, where La Dea reaped all of the rewards as his stock skyrocketed again following a renaissance under Gian Piero Gasperini.

In a free role in attack, the Belgian excelled and finished the domestic season with 10 goals and six assists, looking like he has finally found his home in Italy.

“This is the right environment for me and my playing style,” De Ketelaere told HLN. “Only Atalanta could give me that. The coach is tough but fair, we played good football and everyone knows what to do. I can improve even further here.”

Feelgood Story of the Season ❤️

There was barely a dry eye in the house in Cagliari as coach Claudio Ranieri kept his side up on the penultimate weekend of the season.

After winning promotion last summer via the play-offs thanks to a 94th minute winner, the popular tactician openly wept with joy, but things started badly in the top flight and he offered his resignation, which was rejected by his players.

Relegation remained a threat for much of the year until they finally secured their status with a 2-0 win at Sassuolo, leading to emotional scenes.

And those were heightened when the 72-year-old decided to retire from club football, bowing out where it all began so successfully – with the Isolani in the top tier.

Goal of the Season 😍

When Federico Dimarco found himself being closed down, forced towards the touchline and 56 metres from goal, nothing looked on for the Inter ace. Until…

Game of the Season 🏟️

There are two big standouts here.

Milan 1-2 Inter

The game that saw Inter seal the Scudetto couldn’t have happened in more dramatic fashion as for the first time in Italian football history, the result of a Derby della Madonnina crowned the champions.

Marcus Thuram bagged a dramatic winner, three players were sent off in injury-time as tensions boiled over and when the dust settled, the Nerazzurri had wrapped up the joint-earliest title win of all time.

Cagliari 4-3 Frosinone

Cagliari found themselves 3-0 down at home to Frosinone in September with just 18 minutes remaining before pulling off the greatest comeback in league history, with two goals deep into injury-time sparking wild scenes of celebration.

No Serie A side had ever achieved it before.