The last week prior to the official start of the transfer market was understandably quiet: Sampdoria pulled off the most interesting move by adding another talented youngster, Gonzalo Maroni from Boca Juniors, who can feature in few positions up front and has the potential to be electric. Genoa made a sizeable investment to have Andrea Pinamonti from Inter, who had a very promising rookie season in Frosinone and is set to be their featured guy up front moving forward. Fiorentina are giving the keys to their goal to Barlomiej Dragowki, who blossomed in Empoli last season, and thus sent Alban Lafont to Nantes on a two-year loan. Sassuolo permanently signed left back Rogerio from Juventus after the 18-month loan, Brescia did the same with Ales Mateju, who belonged to Brighton.
Two minnows added foreigners to their defense: SPAL acquired Igor from Austria Wien, while Hellas Verona signed Amir Rrahamani from Dinamo Zagreb and both might be starters next season. Lecce brought in two potential starters from abroad in the midfielder Yehveh Shakhov from PAOK and right back Romario Benzar from Steaua Bucaresti.
Some youngsters were on the move: goalkeeper Brazao joined Inter from Parma, while striker Andrea Adorante made the opposite trip. The Brazilian will likely play with the Primavera, while the centre-forward will be part of the new Parma attack, which will not feature Roberto Inglese, who was not retained due to his price tag. Inter also sold Zinho Vanheusden to Standard Liege after he spent 18 months there. Sassuolo loaned Jens Odgaard to Heerenveen, Torino sent Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to Standard Liege.
The seasonal loan spells terminate tomorrow and several players will switch teams as they were not bought out by their incumbent clubs: the biggest names are Balde Keita, who will return to Monaco after an okay season at Inter that was derailed by a thigh injury, and Tiemoue Bakayoko, who is back at Chelsea as Milan deemed the €35M option too expensive. Kevin Prince-Boateng will be back at Sassuolo after the failed stint at Barcelona.
The Nerazzurri did not keep the right backs Sime Vrsaljko and Cedric Soares either: the season of the first one was cut short by a massive knee injury and he will be on the shelf for a while. They have returned to Atletico Madrid and Southampton respectively. The Beneamata re-gained control of some talented youngsters: Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco, who had their moments in Parma, Andrew Gravillon, who shined in Serie B at Pescara, and Yann Karamoh, who was previously at Bordeaux.
Juventus will have to decide what to do with Gonzalo Higuain, who was not acquired by Chelsea, and Marko Pjaca, who got hurt again in the midst of an already underwhelming stint at Fiorentina. Martin Caceres was not signed outright after the loan from Lazio and he is now a free agent.
Milan might keep André Silva on the roster and try to revive him after he faded in the second half of the season in Sevilla and they are pretty shallow in the attack. Roma will have back Gerson, who was up-and-down at Fiorentina, Maxime Gonalons and Daniele Verde, who were in Spain in 2018/2019 with mixed results.
Napoli will likely move again Marko Rog, who was at Sevilla like Gonalons, and Lorenzo Tonelli, who could come in handy for a minnow after being serviceable at Sampdoria. The Partenopei have not officially signed David Ospina yet, but that is the expectation. The Azzurri control three players that were in Parma: Inglese, Luigi Sepe and Alberto Grassi, but the last two could be back with the Ducali later in the summer, while the striker will spearhead another Serie A attack next season.
Torino will be able to count on two very promising youngsters in the back: Kevin Bonifazi and Lyanco, who performed very well in SPAL and Bologna. Simone Edera was with the Felsinei too, but did not get a ton of minutes. Atalanta are working to retain Mario Pasalic from Chelsea, who improved as the season progressed and has enough versatility to be valuable. The Bergamaschi have to make a decision on Marco D’Alessandro, who proved to be a useful player in a new role at Udinese, Andreas Cornelius, who did not do particularly well in Bordeaux, and Federico Mattiello, who was at Bologna. They might keep one of their prospects for depth purposes: Luca Valzania, Marco Carraro and Davide Bettella.
Sampdoria did not keep Gregoire Defrel, but the door is not completely shut on that front, while Dawid Kownacki made it clear that he would like to stay at Fortuna Dusseldorf. The Blucerchiati will say goodbye to back-up left back Junior Tavares, but might consider keeping Valerio Verre, who was highly productive in Serie B.
Fiorentina will likely transfer again Cyril Thereau and Riccardo Saponara, while Lorenzo Venuti should get a chance in Serie A after a solid season at Lecce. Diego Farias and Marko Pajac will return to Cagliari but they showed well enough at Empoli to be given another shot, either in Sardinia or in another Serie A team. Han instead did not impress in Perugia.
Sassuolo have a rich contingent of youngsters they have to eavaluate: Cristiano Dell’Orco and Francesco Cassata were fine at Empoli and Frosinone, while Davide Frattesi and Francesco Pinato had strong campaigns in Serie B; Alessandro Tripaldelli played well in the U-20 World Cup. They will not retain Mauricio Lemos, who flamed out pretty quickly.
SPAL lost some valuable elements: Emiliano Viviano due to his cost, then the midfielders’ duo of Alessandro Murgia and Mattia Valoti, but they might find a way to bring them back later in the transfer market window. Lorenzo Dickmann is unlikely to stay here, while they have one of Serie B’s hottest striker, Gabriele Moncini, but he is fairly similar to Andrea Petagna.
Udinese will let Marvin Zeegelaar and Ben Wilmot return to Watford, but could easily bring them back if they want to. Giuseppe Pezzella and Francisco Sierralta will return from the loan spells at Genoa and Parma and might stay. The Griffon is unlikely to keep journeyman Luca Rossettini, who was at Chievo, and did not pick the option for Esteban Rolon, while Paolo Ghiglione got some minutes at Frosinone.
Lecce lost a pair of young strikers: Marco Tumminello and Simone Palombi, but their production was not superb last year, while Brescia will have to replace Simone Romagnoli, who was a starter but belongs to Empoli.
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