Serie A & Premier League - rivals on the pitch, business partners off it

The golden years of the Italian Serie A are long gone, but it's still one of the top five European leagues and deserves respect. On the other hand, the Premier League has established itself as the strongest and most popular league in the world, significantly turning the tables compared to the beginning of the century.

Regardless of the leagues' statuses, the clubs from England and Italy - as well as the two national teams - have always been fierce rivals in European and intercontinental competitions. But lately, that's only been the case on the pitch. Because off it, the Serie A and EPL sides are reliable business partners.

Just in the last four years, names like Christian Romero, Sandro Tonali, Riccardo Calafiori, Tijjani Reijnders, Andre Onana, Rasmus Hojlund, and Joshua Zirkzee have replaced Italian teams with English ones.

Zirkzee of Man United and Arsenal's Calafiori were once teammates at Bologna (©Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

After all, the most expensive outgoing transfer in the history of Italian football was Romelu Lukaku's move from Inter Milan to Chelsea worth €113 million.

Conversely, Serie A clubs do not spend millions of euros on reinforcements from the Premier League - because they don't have such lavish amounts, in the first place - but usually bring experienced and more or less written-off EPL players.

The examples are many and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Chris Smalling, Edin Dzeko, Fikayo Tomori, Scott McTominay, Douglas Luiz, and David De Gea are only some of them.

The ongoing transfer window hasn't been an exception when it comes to this phenomenon, as the English sides have already splurged €180 million on players coming from Italy - Tijjani Reijnders, Enzo Le Fee, Jaka Bijol, Michael Kayode, Diego Coppola, and Loum Tchaouna. Meanwhile, transfers of Inter Milan's Yann Bisseck and Como's Assane Diao to Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, respectively, are close to realization.

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The moves in the opposite direction also prove the pattern mentioned before. Kevin De Bruyne has already replaced Man City's jersey with Napoli's colours, while his former teammate Jack Grealish could join him shortly.

Finally, ex-Serie A players, Rasmus Hojlund and Federico Chiesa, who struggled to adapt to EPL requirements, are also on the verge of returning to the Boot, where they played the best football of their careers.