Fiorentina was the most active team over the last few days and signed a quality fivesome: Alfred Duncan from Sassuolo, Igor from SPAL, Christian Kouame and Kevin Agudelo from Genoa and Sofyan Amrabat from Verona. Duncan, purchased for €15M, has been pretty steady over the last four years at Sassuolo, but his playing time has been limited recently due to a tactical switch that did not suit his traits. He is known commodity and can contribute at both ends. Agudelo had a hot stretch under Thiago Motta, flashing very intriguing playmaking and potential, but fell on the wayside with Davide Nicola. He can play all over the formation offensively and probably projects as very offensive box-to-box. He joined on an 18-month loan with conditioned obligation to buy. They will add some much-needed dynamism to the Viola’s midfield, who had nobody behind Gaetano Castrovilli and Marco Benassi. Igor has been a day-one starter with the Estensi after coming over RB Salzburg in the summer, has had some ups-and-down but is still young. The Gigliati lacked a left-footed centre-back for their three-man line, so Igor could challenge Martin Caceres to play there.
Kouame has been terrific in Genoa last season and got off to a good start in the current campaign as well, which was however cut short by an ACL tear. They took advantage of the situation to have a discount and will enjoy his services from next season. With the same perspective, they won the race to purchase Sofyan Amrabat from Verona, who will stay at Verona in 2020, who stood out for his hustle right away since a late move from Club Brugge. Kevin-Prince Boateng came here with decent hopes, but did not pan out as false-nine and fell out of favour as Dusan Vlahovic emerged: he has been loaned to Besiktas and they will go with a young trio up front.
Genoa continued bringing in new (old) faces as they acquired Iago Falque, Andrea Masiello and Vittorio Parigini, with the first two being at the second stint with the Grifone. Falque has been one of Torino’s centre-pieces over the last three seasons, notching a total of 30 goals and 21 assists, but he had troubles staying healthy so far and appeared just four times. The Granata have found a viable solution with Simone Verdi and Alex Berenguer supporting Andrea Belotti and decided to part ways. He was extremely prolific for a midfielder so he is one to keep an eye on. Masiello fell out of the rotation after few solid seasons at Atalanta since Berat Djimsiti turned into a reliable centre-back and they reunited with Mattia Caldara. He will add experience and leadership to a back-line that has been very porous so far. They did not stop there defensively as they signed also Adama Soumaoro from Lille on loan with option to buy, so they could look way different in the second half of the season. Parigini was immediately loaned to Cremonese. Jawad El Yamiq was no longer needed and was temporarily shipped to Zaragoza.
Cagliari completed one of most interesting signing of the window by purchasing Gaston Pereiro from PSV. The 24-year-old Uruguayan attacker has put up impressive numbers in Eredivisie (49 goals and 21 assists in 154 matches) and will bring some pizzazz to a club that is not very deep offensively. They have been using Radja Nainggolan in that position, but the Belgian, who is on loan, is pretty versatile and so Pereiro has a chance to feature a lot if he gets off to a good start.
Napoli wanted a young(-ish) striker and they got it, but only from next summer, as they acquired Andrea Petagna for €17M, loaning him back to SPAL to finish the season. Their previous attempts with Italian centre-forward (Leonardo Pavoletti, Roberto Inglese) have not gone well, Petagna will try to buck the trend after a couple of good years in Ferrara.
Atalanta have been operating so far with just three central midfielders and opted to remedy that by signing the muscular Adrien Tameze on loan from Nice, who will join Remo Freuler, Marten De Roon and Mario Pasalic in that role. After parting ways with two centre-backs, they added youngsters Bosko Sutalo from Osijek and former Milan Raoul Bellanova from Bordeaux, who can also play on the left flank.
Parma moved quickly to replace the injured Luigi Sepe and scooped up Ionut Radu from Genoa as the youngster, who has been passable so far, had recently lost the starting job to the more experienced Mattia Perin. While the departure of Gervinho has not been made official yet due to technical reasons, the Ducali have signed Gianluca Caprari on loan with option to buy from Sampdoria. The forward has generally worked better as a weapon off the bench so far in his career, but he could have a chance to finally be full-time starter in this new stop. They rounded out the back-line with Vasco Regini from Sampdoria, who is on his third team in as many years. Sampdoria replaced Caprari with the ever promising but never too convincing Antonino La Gumina from Empoli.
Verona were pretty thin on the flanks and brought in Federico Dimarco on loan with option to buy form Inter: he is prolific crosser and a good shooter, but Darko Lazovic has been quite solid on that wing so far. They also bolstered the back-line with youngster Matteo Lovato from Padova. Sassuolo had no depth behind Domenico Berardi and Jeremie Boga on the flanks and brought back to Italy pacey winger Lukas Haraslin from Lechia Gdsank, who could have a decent role moving forward. Sampdoria added a ton of experience to their back-line with Maya Yoshida from Southampton, who can play in a couple of positions.
SPAL took their time but did replace Jasmin Kurtic in the midfield with Lucas Castro from Cagliari, who was a bench option in Sardinia and could be a sneaky fantasy asset with more playing time. The two clubs also traded back-up strikers: Alberto Paloschi for Alberto Cerri, but the swap probably will not move the needle much on either side. The Estensi finished off the reinforcement campaign by bringing Ervin Zukanovic back to Serie A after the departure of Igor, as, after playing for few teams, he ended up in Saudi team Al Ahli. Brescia rescinded the loan spells of centre-back Giangiacomo Magnani and Alessandro Matri, who both returned at Sassuolo. The Neroverdi navigated through several injuries in the back over the last few weeks but they are healthier now, so it is unsure of much of an impact Magnani will make.
Antonin Barak will have a chance to get his career back on track at Lecce, which signed him on loan from Udinese. He was terrific two years ago, but back problems have hampered him over the last 18 months. He is the third additions to the previously thin Giallorossi’s midfield after Riccardo Saponara and Alessandro Deiola. After much tribulation, they managed to snatch a centre-back: Nehuez Paz from Bologna, who recently had a couple of appearances due to an injury crisis and will look to challenge one of their veteran starters with his spryness.
Bologna, who previously added Nicolas Dominguez in the midfield, bid farewell to Blerin Dzemaili, who has decided to move to Chinese team Shenzhen, putting an end to his stint with the Felsinei, and now have a new third-string goalie as they brought him Sebastian Breza from Potenza, who, being Canadian, might have a future in their MLS affiliate of Montreal Impact. Valon Berisha spent more time in the infirmary than on the pitch during the last 18 months at Lazio: he has been loaned out to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
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