The stadiums may be crumbling faster than the Coliseum, the pitches may look more like the sandy beaches of Sardinia and to top it all, as if we didnâÂÂt already know it, itâÂÂs not a level playing field when it comes to salaries.
The football rich are getting richer and the rest, well, they arenâÂÂt doing to badly either if you take into consideration that the average desk clerk in Italy takes home around â¬14,400 a year.
However, itâÂÂs all relative, as they say, and according to La Gazzetta dello Sport there is â¬840.4 million finding its way into the bank accounts of those making a living from playing and coaching the game.
Of course, sitting atop the pile are Inter who hand out an impressive â¬150 million, plus there is another â¬20 million hanging out there in bonuses â and for the first time in the history of Italian football it is a coach who tops the earnings list.
Jose MourinhoâÂÂs â¬11 million net a year is â¬500,000 more than his star striker Samuel EtoâÂÂo â who is the leagueâÂÂs top-earning player.
In fact, the Cameroonian is well out in front, with Ronaldinho trailing back on â¬7.5 million for all his sterling efforts at AC Milan.
"Hmmm... I'll buy them all"
Further down the pecking order, but well capable of paying for the odd round or two, are Gigi Buffon and Patrick Vieira on â¬5.5 million apiece: no wonder the Frenchman wanted to stay at the Nerazzurri and âÂÂfight for his place."
And no wonder no one wants to leave the AC Milan country club when there is â¬125.5 million draining out of the accounts to pay the likes of Nelson Dida â¬4 million for another year, Clarence Seedorf the same amount well into his football dotage and so on.
Tellingly, Alexandre Pato takes home a million on the nose, so the Brazilian should be expecting a three-to four-fold pay rise within the next few months â or Chelsea here we definitely come (pending an appeal to their transfer embargo).
NEWS: Chelsea to mount "strongest appeal possible" against transfer embargo
Of course, itâÂÂs a different story among the honest proles: ChievoâÂÂs top earner Sergio Pellissier is on â¬600,000, which is only â¬200,000 more than InterâÂÂs promising midfielder Renè Krhin squirrels away in his teenage bank account.
It should also be mentioned that Massimo Moratti is still paying Roberto Mancini â¬6 million a year to sit around on a yacht moored off the Italian coast.
Show me the money, indeed. And in honour of the big earners, here is the âÂÂMoney Bagsâ XI, of course, coached by you-know-who:
Goalkeeper: Gigi Buffon, Juventus (â¬5.5m)
Right-back: Maicon, Inter (â¬4.5m)
Centre-back: Lucio, Inter (â¬4.5m)
Centre-back: Alessandro Nesta, AC Milan (â¬4m)
Left-back: Cristian Chivu, Inter (â¬3.5m)
Midfield: Wesley Sneijder, Inter (â¬4m)
Midfield: Andrea Pirlo, AC Milan (â¬5m)
Midfield: Patrick Vieira, Inter (â¬5.5m)
Striker: Francesco Totti, Roma (â¬5.46m)
Striker: Ronaldinho, AC MIlan (â¬7.5m)
Striker: Samuel EtoâÂÂo, Inter (â¬10.5m)
Coach: Jose Mourinho, Inter (â¬11m)
Total: â¬70.96m per year
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