Who shone in EPL opening round? Ex-Serie A lads

During the past few seasons, numerous elite Serie A players have joined Premier League sides. From Sandro Tonali and Andre Onana to Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, the players arriving from the Boot have seriously enriched the EPL.

Throughout the period mentioned above, some shone, and some failed to meet expectations, but the opening round of the 2025/2026 campaign in England's top tier might have indicated that the former "Italians" could rule the Premier League this season.

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

Namely, two well-adapted ex-Serie A players and as many newcomers from the Boot absolutely dominated the first football weekend in England, recording four goals and an assist in their respective sides' victories.

Already on Friday, in the maiden match of the season, Federico Chiesa hinted at his revival at Liverpool, scoring a vital goal off the bench in the Reds' hard-won 4-2 triumph against Bournemouth.

A day later, Man City's acquisition from AC Milan, Tijjani Reijnders, spilt magic all over the Molineux Stadium, recorded a goal and an assist in the Cityzens' crushing 4-0 victory over Wolverhampton, and showed why the Manchester side paid €55 million for his arrival.

Finally, Sunday's Premier League games weren't exempt from "Serie A impact" either. First, Nottingham Forest's newcomer from Bologna, Dan Ndoye, netted on his EPL debut in the Trees' 3-1 win over Brentford and then his ex-teammate Riccardo Calafiori burst onto the scene, scoring a winner for Arsenal in a derby against Man United at Old Trafford.

The former Serie A players set the bar high from the beginning, though now the expectations will be high as well.

Still, if we believe that the morning shows the day...