Most of the big stuff was done prior to deadline day in Serie A, but it still had a little bit of drama with Simone Zaza picking Torino over Sampdoria after the Blucerchiati had sealed the deal with Valencia. He will now form an interesting couple with Andrea Belotti and the Granata also brought in another familiar face: Roberto Soriano from Villarreal. Two valuable additions that might allow them to seriously challenge for a Europa League spot this year. They also obtained on loan the right back Ola Aina from Chelsea and the centre-back Koffi Djidji from Nantes to complete the defence.
The biggest news this week were Stevn Nzonzi joining Roma after a lengthy negotiation, Inter acquiring Balde Keita from Monaco, Claudio Marchisio rescinding his contract with Juventus after 25 years at the club and Milan finishing off his excellent transfer market window with the midfielder Tiemoué Bakayoko, the winger Samu Castillejo and the fullback Diego Laxalt, who will bolster their depth in few positions. Rossoneri’s left back Ivan Strinic was diagnosed with heart hypertrophy and will have to stop playing and rest for a while before undergoing further tests. Napoli believed they could not trust Orestis Karnezis as back-up goalie so they signed David Ospina on loan from Arsenal to deputize for Alex Meret, who is dealing with an arm fracture.
The last few days were mostly animated by relegation strugglers looking for reinforcements. Parma improved their squad a lot by signing Roberto Inglese and Alberto Grassi on loan from Napoli, Gervinho from Hebei China Fortune, Mattia Sprocati from Lazio and Alessandro Deiola from Cagliari. A couple of them are high level additions that could give the Ducali a leg up over the competition.
However, their competitors did not sit on their hands. SPAL acquired Simone Missiroli from Sassuolo and Mirko Valdifiori from Torino, two veteran midfielders that can still be effective, and Kevin Bonifazi and Lorenco Simic on loan, two young defenders who bring a ton of physicality. Frosinone signed Joel Campbell from Arsenal, hoping he will be able to regain his Olympiacos form, Francesco Zampano from Pescara in exchange for Matteo Ciofani, Marco Capuano from Cagliari, Rai Vloet and Joaquin Ardaiz from Chiasso, Francesco Cassata and Andrea Pinamonti on loan from Sassuolo and Inter respectively. There are few gambles and unknowns in there, but if they hit on a couple of them, they could be in good shape. Empoli added Afriyie Acquah from Torino and Salih Ucan from Fenerbahce, who played at Roma few years ago. Chievo brought back Federico Barba from Sporting Gijon, who can inject some new energies into their defence.
There were few more more acquisitions with international flavour. Cagliari, for instance, purchased Ragnar Klavan from Liverpool, concluding positively their seemingly never-ending quest to find the right centre-back. Sassuolo expanded their range with the Brazilian youngster Marlon from Barcelona, who showed well at Nice last year and has a clear path to become a key element of defence. They also stayed true to their modus operandi by acquiring Manuel Locatelli from Milan: he might flourish with more opportunities. Udinese signed Lukasz Teodorczyk from Anderlecht, who might end up forming a well-assorted couple with Kevin Lasagna and will initially serve as his backup. The Zebrette parted ways with the stalwart Danilo, who moved to Bologna, and acquired William Troost-Ekong to try to fill the void.
Sampdoria bounced back from the Zaza fiasco by bringing in Riccardo Saponara, who has struggled with consistency and injuries at Fiorentina but will re-unite with Marco Giampaolo. Same for Lorenzo Tonelli, who had a limited role at Napoli but was a very reliable centre-back at Empoli. They will be both in contention for a starting spot and could lift them if they fulfil their potential. Earlier in the week, the Blucerchiati had brought back to Serie A Albin Ekdal from Hamburger, who joins the committee to try to replace Lucas Torreira. Fiorentina concluded their summer by trading Carlos Sanchez for Edimilson with West Ham, thus adding one more body to their midfield.
Atalanta advanced to the final stage of the Europa League playoffs, where they will face Copenhagen, and gifted Gian Piero Gasperini with Emiliano Rigoni, a dynamic winger who is fairly similar to Alejandro Gomez, since the coach voiced some discontent for lack of moves. They also swapped Marco D’Alessandro for Ali Adnan with Udinese.
Several teams trimmed the roster by loaning players to Serie B: the most notable where Cagliari’s Han returning to Perugia, Genoa shipping Claudio Spinelli to Crotone, Bologna doing the same with Cesar Falletti, who will play at Palermo, Lazio sending Davide Di Gennaro and the Andersons to Salernitana and Parma letting the recently acquired winger Cristian Galano join Foggia. The Griffon sold Andrej Galabinov to Spezia and Nikola Ninkovic to Ascoli.
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