Serie A Weekly News Recap

kalinic

This week was less headline-grabbing on the transfer market, but a ton of deals got done, especially involving the lower-table clubs. But let’s start off with some news pertaining the sports justice, which has had a leading role this summer. Parma and Emanuele Calaiò partially won their appeal: the club will no longer be deducted any point but will simply be fined, while the striker is suspended until December 31st, down from the initial two years, for sending some inappropriate texts that the prosecutor believed to have the purpose of fixing a match.

The suspension of Joao Pedro stands: the Cagliari’s attacking midfielder will miss the first three games, serving the full six months for taking a diuretic. The prosecutor asked for a four-year ban, so it can still be considered a positive for the player. Atalanta won 1-4 on the road against Hapoel Haifa in the first leg, inching closer to the final Europa League play-off.

A panel of the Italian Olympic Committee ruled that the sanctions against Frosinone for what happened in the Serie B playoff final, deliberate time wasting and a pitch invasion, were too light and demanded the appeal judge to change them. The Ciociari were fined and will be forced to play two games without fans. However, Palermo’s request to win by forfeit was denied, so their hopes to be promoted in lieu of the Ciociari are very slim and will end once the league starts.

Milan found a taker for both Nikola Kalinic and André Silva, who became very expendable after the arrival of Gonzalo Higuain and will both head to La Liga: the Croatian moved to Atletico Madrid for €14.5, down from the €20M the Devil paid for him a year ago, the Portuguese to Sevilla on loan with €38M option to buy, which is was they coughed up to get him from Porto.

Napoli signed the fullback Kevin Malcuit from Lille after a lengthy casting to find the right man at the right price. They needed a right back after they decided to let the veteran Christian Maggio go and also this week it was announced that Faouzi Ghoulam will be out for at least another month following the removal of plate on his fractured kneecap. So Malcuit, acquired for €12M, will serve as Elseid Hysaj and they will both double up as second-string left back when Mario Rui needs a breather.

Another long chase came to fruition as Fiorentina convinced Juventus to give up Marko Pjaca on loan with option to buy. The Croatian winger will try to bounce back after a pair of injury-plagued seasons in Turin and a failed stint at Schalke and is set to form a pretty explosive trident with Federico Chiesa and Giovanni Simeone. The Old Lady loaned out also Stefano Sturaro, who will play at Sporting CP once he will have recovered from his current injury.

Genoa made official a pair of good signings: they purchased Andrea Favilli from Juventus on loan with option to buy, who lit it up in the pre-season, and Lisandro Lopez from Benfica, who was a reserve at Inter in the second half of last season and will add a ton of size to their defence.

Parma announced a bunch of deals that had been in the works for a while: they brought in Jonathan Biabiany, Federico Dimarco and Alessandro Bastoni from Inter and Francisco Sierralta from Udinese. Only the winger has returned on a permanent basis, while the three youngsters will try to work their way into the defensive rotations.

Speaking of back-lines, Empoli have a new starter in Matias Silvestre, whom they lured away from Sampdoria since he appeared to have lost his starting job, and also signed Luca Antonelli from Milan, who will alternate with Manuel Pasqual on the left flank. Chievo obtained Luca Rossettini on loan from Genoa, who replaces Dario Dainelli and will compete with the other centre-backs. The Flying Donkeys also signed Joel Obi, who is coming off a sneakily good year at Torino, where he netted five goals and will replace a key cog like Lucas Castro, and the highly touted goalkeeper Adrian Semper from Dinamo Zagreb. Frosinone added Bartosz Salamon from SPAL, who will have a chance to be a starter.

Teams also continue to sell players who would not have had big roles: Roma loaned Daniele Verde to Real Valladolid, SPAL sent Pa Konate to the United States, to Cincinnati FC more specifically, Genoa loaned Petar Brlek to Lugano and Frosinone shipped Moussa Konè to Erzurumspor.

Cagliari stalwart Andrea Cossu has played his farewell game against Atletico Madrid this week, retiring after a 22-year career, spent mostly in Sardinia. A dynamic playmaker in his best years, he collected 268 appearances with the Rossoblù.

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