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SERIE A PREVIEW: The lowdown on Juventus, Inter Milan and rest of top-flight teams
The word for patience in Italian is peace and that is exactly what Serie A fans had to have enough while waiting for the 2019-20 season to start.
But unfortunately calcium is back! There are so many fascinating subplots to follow with Inter Milan and Antonio Conte splashing the money, Mario Balotelli looking for relegation candidates Brescia in the competition and Maurizio Sarri will make nine league titles in a row for Juventus ?
It will be another intriguing campaign in Italy – a real title fight beckons – and Sportsmail you have everything you need to know about each team before match day one.
Juventus wants to win nine titles in a row in a row but faced with stringent tests by Inter Milan and Napoli
ATALANTA
Manager : Gian Piero Gasperini
Transfers in : Luis Muriel (Sevilla, £ 13.5 m), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Club Brugge, £ 12 m), Marco Varnier (Cittadella, £ 4.5 m), Martin Skrtel (Fenerbahce, free), Aimone Cali ( Montespaccato, free), Francis Gomez (Valle Tevere, free)
Transfers from : Franck Kessie (AC Mil an, £ 21m, Bryan Cristante (AS Rome, £ 19m), Andrea Petagna (SPAL, £ 1 0.8m), Alberto Almici (Hellas Verona, £ 450,000), Davide Agazzi (AS Livorno, £ 360,000), Tommaso Tentoni (Imolese, free), Emanuele Suagher (Ternana, free), Gianluca Mancini (AS Roma, loan), Federico Mattiello (Cagliari, loan), Etrit Berisha (SPAL, loan), Luca Zanotti (Como, free), Francis Gomez (Florida, loan), Christian Mora (Cittadella, loan), Boris Radunovic (Hellas Verona, loan), Nicolas Haas (Frosinone, loan), Emmanuel Latte Lath (Imolese, loan), Lorenzo Migliorelli (Siena, loan), Gaetano Monachello (Pordenone, loan), Aimone Cali (Catanzaro, loan), Riccardo Gatti (AJ Fano, loan), Alberto Alari (South Tyrol, loan), Marco Tumminello (Pescara, loan), Gabriel Lunetta (Reggiana, loan), Marco D & # 39; Alessandro (SPAL, loan), Andreas Cornelius (Parma, loan), Anton Kresic (Padova, loan), Luca Vido (Crotone, loan), Stefano Mazzini (Pontedera, loan), Thomas Bolis (Piacenz a loan), Enrico Zanoni (AS Gubbio loan), Roberto Taliento (South Tyrol loan), Isnik Alimi (Imolese loan), Fabio Eguelfi (Frosino ne loan), Alessandro Mallamo (Juve Stabia loan), Alessandro Santopadre (Rimini, loan), Christian Capone (Perugia, loan), Stefano Marchetti (Renate, loan), Tiziano Tulissi (Modena, loan)
Last season : 3rd
Atalanta has a serious task to surpass the success of 2018-19, with a third placed finish securing them Champions League football.
Even hosting games in San Siro in Milan cannot take away the excitement for La Dea. Their finish made it easy to forget how slowly they started. The side of Gasperini won only one of their first eight games. The manager kept scratching his head.
But they rallied and went undefeated 13 games in the last third of the season before they stretched their growing muscles even further by eliminating the eventual champions Juventus from Coppa Italia. The old lady's hope for clean garbage was quickly tattered.
Atalanta & # 39; s rivals have spent a lot, determined to bridge the gap with Juventus, the runaway train in 2018-19, and thus fitting, or even better, their finish last season would be spectacular for Atalanta .
Luis Muriel is a smart business and Duvan Zapata feels important despite his age. The Champions League could quickly dictate the entire campaign if lightning strikes twice and they make a slow start to the season.
After reaching all the right tones last season, even Gasperini will be willing to fall flat on this campaign.
Atalanta has taken over Luis Muriel from Seville this summer because they want to look again
FAN VERDICT – Nigel Mannering ( @AtalantaNige )
The 2019-20 season is the most historic in the 112-year history of Atalanta. Atalanta will play third place in the Champions League for the first time in history.
We have been one of Europe & # 39; s most enjoyable teams to view over the past three years and it becomes fascinating to see how we compete with the Euorpe elite. The team that finished third last season – and reached the final of Coppa Italia – remains largely intact with only Gianluca Mancini leaving for Roma.
In fact, Mr. Percassi and manager Gasperini have done an excellent job keeping the team together. Last season's top scorer, Duvan Zapata, is still in Bergamo, as are Ilicic, Castagne, Hateboer, and Papu, all of whom have been associated with a move. We have made a number of good signings for the new season.
Luis Muriel has arrived from Seville and has a proven Series A record. Ruslan Malinovskyi has also arrived from Genk and the Ukrainian international looks a nice player. Hopefully we see Atalanta again this season insisting on a place in the top four in Serie A!
Gian Piero Gasperini (right) will build on Atalanta & # 39; s third placed finish in 2018-19
BOLOGNA
Manager: : Sinisa Mihajlovic
Transfers in : Riccardo Orsolini (Juventus, £ 13.5 m), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Sint-Truiden, £ 8.10 m), Roberto Soriano (Villarreal, £ 6.75 m), Nicola Sansone (Villarreal, £ 6 , 75 m), Stefano Denswil (Club Brugge, £ 5.4 million), Andreas Skov Olsen (FC Nordsjaelland, £ 5.4 million), Jerdy Schouten (Excelsior, £ 2.7 million), Mattia Bani (Chievo Verona, £ 2.25 million), Lassi Lap palainen (HJK Helsinki, £ 900,000)
Transfers from : Erick Pulgar (Fiorentina, £ 9 m), Alex Ferrari (Sampdoria, £ 4.05 m), Filip Helander (Rangers, £ 3.5 m), Felipe Avenatti (Standard Liege, £ 3.15 m), Adam Nagy (Bristol City, £ 2.25 million), Emil Krafth (Amiens, £ 1.8 million), Sebastien May (Udinese, £ 900,000), Giordano Trovade (South Tyrol, free), Lassi Lappalainen (Montreal Impact, loan), Alessandro Bianconi (loan), Godfred Donsah (loan from Cercle Brugge), Antonio Santurro (loan from Sambenedettese), Juan Manuel Valencia (loan from Cesena), Federico Ravaglia (loan from Gubbio), Hamza El Kaouaakibi (loan from Piacenza), Luca Rizzo (AS Livorno, loan), Fabrizio Brignani (Cesena, loan)
Last season : 10th
Sinisa Mihajlovic is a fighter in every sense of the word. He has had scuffles as a player, scrapes as a manager and boldly fought to drag Bologna back into battle when he took over from the disastrous regime of Pippo Inzaghi last season.
But now he may be facing his biggest fight, all while we continue to oversee the club's fortunes. Mihajlovic promised not to turn his back on the fans or the players when he emerged that he had been diagnosed with leukemia – if his players cannot galvanize, then what can he do?
The turning point since his arrival is grim. Players went from missing any identity to flourishing in their desired 4-2-3-1 system.
Riccardo Orsolini, Roberto Soriano and Rodrigo Palacio is an exciting and ambitious trio when it is suitable to play behind the loan attacker. and the growing ambition of Bologna is not lost on the supporters of the club.
Getting a permanent deal with Orsolini feels important and if he continues where he left off in 2018-19, there's a place in the upper half for the take.
Bologna wants to set a good season for boss Sinisa Mihajlovic as he fights with leukemia
FAN VERDICT – Fredrik Bakke ( @semprebologna )
Last season started terribly under new coach Filippo Inzaghi, but then Sinisa Mihajlovic took the lead and we finished 10th. This summer the owner Joey Saputo has invested a lot of money and the optimism is high at the moment.
The Serbian coach is loved in Bologna, and the hope is that we will improve the finish of last season.
Riccardo Orsolini should be even better this year after Bologna exercised its option to buy it after last season's loan.
He scored 10 and looked at six last season, most of which came in the second half of the season. Top 10 is definitely hope!
Riccardo Orsolini wants to show that he can build on his success last year in a Bologna shirt
BRESCIA
[1945902] Manager : Eugenio Corini
[1945902] Transfers in : Jesse Joronen (FC Copenhagen, £ 4.5 m), Jaromir Zmrhal (Slavia Prague, £ 3.4 m), Florian Aye (Clermont Foot, £ 1.8 m), Jhon Chancellor (Al Ahli, £ 1.4 m), Tremolada Luca (Virtus Entella, £ 800,000), Bruno Martella (Crotone, £ 720,000), Mario Balotelli (Marseille, free), Giangia as Magnani (Sassuolo, loan)
[1945902] Transfers from : Biagi Meccariello (Lecce, £ 90,000), Edoardo Lancini (Palermo, free), Alessandro Martinelli (Palermo, free), Paolo Bastianello (Frosinone, free), Matteo Cortesi ( Giana Erminio, loan), Simone Ferrari (Pergolettese, loan)
Last season : Series B champions
It was a long way for Brescia to come back here to Serie A. It was 2010-11 when fans tasted it
But last year it all clicked, after years of gloomy seasons in the second layer of Italy, and Brescia cut Lecce through a lonely point to the title.
While they only lost five games the entire season in that run to the title, 42 goals in 36 games knocked not surprisingly alarm bells. Performing in the same way in Serie A against Cristiano Ronaldo and Co and the penalties would prove to be much more serious.
They have not spent over and above their means to find their way out of relegation, but Mario Balotelli is acquiring on a free perhaps the most checkout deal in the entire competition all summer.
Back in his childhood, Balotelli is the big fish in a fairly small pond and with Euro 2020 at his head, the shape of the Manchester City Title Winner is likely to beat the club's chances of dropping make or break.
Also keep an eye on the rising star Sandro Tonali. Similar to Andrea Pirlo – and not just because of the similar fluent locks of the pair – Tonali is rightly regarded as one of the best upcoming midfielders in the country. If all goes well, both he and Balotelli will be in the middle of it.
Brescia will be a box-office draw this season after the free transfer arrival of Mario Balotelli
FAN VERDICT – GianPaolo Laffranchi (Gazzetta dello Sport – @Joao_Laffranchi )
It's another 2000. a millennium. Another was for Brescia. 2000, Roberto Baggio. 2019, Mario Balotelli. Another dream came true, and it seemed impossible, but it was actually logical: if you have an ambitious and smart president, you can climb any mountain.
Balotelli was free, without a team, left alone like Baggio nearly 20 years ago, when Gino Corioni tried the challenge. And he made it.
Now President Massimo Cellino, who owned Cagliari for 22 years, is 17 in Series A. Here he brought Brescia back from Series B in two years. Now he has convinced Balotelli to start again in his home town, where he grew up but never played.
Baggio earned the fortune of Brescia and saved us four years in a row. Will Super Mario be able to do better? The team won a championship last year and has players who can make a quantitative leap this time.
CAGLIARI
Manager : Rolando Maran
Transfers in : Nahitan Nandez (Boca Juniors, £ 16.2 m) , Alberto Cerri (Juventus, £ 8.1 m), Christian Oliva (National, £ 4.5 m), Fabrizio Cacciatore (Chievo Verona, £ 720,000), Marko Rog (loan from Napoli), Federico Mattiello (loan from Atalanta) , Radja Nainggolan (loan between loans), Luca Pellegrini (loan from Juventus)
Transfers from : Nicolo Barella (Inter, loan), Diego Farias (Lecce, loan), Damir Ceter ( Chievo Verona, loan), Luca Crosta (Olbia, loan), Guglielmo Vicario (Perugia, loan), Marko Pajac (Genoa, loan), Fabrizio Caligara (Venezia, loan)), Matteo Cotali (Chievo Verona, free)
Last season : 15th
Cagliari fans hope for the days of demolition before the bottom of the table is over with Rolando Maran who is a di Each team builds for what appears to be a new topsy-turvy campaign.
The return of Radja Nainggolan – an avid favorite in Sardinia due to his reliability for supporters (he enjoyed a smoke with some fans after lending this summer) – saw Maran change formation to a 3- 5-2 in an attempt to maximize his newest possession.
Nainggolan was almost completely expelled from Inter by new boss Antonio Graaf and so the fire burns in the Belgian midfielder to prove that he can still compete at the highest level.
Maran laid the foundation for this season last year and fans can expect to see the fruits of the early labor of the Czech with winning matches against Brescia, Parma and Genoa all in the first four games.
Losing Nicolo Barella to Inter is undoubtedly a real blow to the club, as he is one of the most promising young players in the country. But Leonardo Pavoletti remains in possession of the striker and after 18 goals in all competitions last season, the 30-year-old wants to continue.
A lower half finish would mean a backward step for Maran, the season taking a turn for the worst.
Radja Nainggolan was returned to Cagliari after being isolated left at Inter Milan
FAN VERDICT – Valentina Campus ( @valentinacampus )
We breathe new air in Cagliari. Our president, Tommaso Giulini, has decided to be aggressive in the transfer market and now the team has the potential for an excellent season.
Unfortunately our main player, Nicolo Barella, left for Inter, but with the money raised Rolando Maran has rebuilt our midfield: Radja Nainggolan is back on loan from Inter and the new players, former Napoli ace Marko Rog and the Uruguayan Nahitan Nandez arrived from Boca Juniors, goat well.
The focal point of the attack remains Leonardo Pavoletti, probably the most dangerous header in the Serie A. Cagliari is a strong team supported by the enthusiasm of an entire island: we could really surprise everyone this year.
Our first test will be the home game against the newly promoted Brescia. They are run by our former president, the Sardinian Massimo Cellino. We will welcome him warmly, but the three points will be ours!
Boss Rolando Maran is expected to deliver a better season than 15th place in 2018-19
FIORENTINA
: Manager : Vincenzo Montella
Transfers in : Erick Pulgar (Bologna, £ 9 m), Aleksa Terzic (Red star, £ 1.5 m), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Sassuolo, £ 900,000), Riccardo Baroni (Virtus Entella, £ 360,000 ), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich, free), Pol Lirola (Sassuolo, loan), Milan Badelj (Lazio, loan)
Transfers from : Victor H ugo (Palmeiras, £ 5 million), Christian Norgaard (Brentford, £ 3 million), Jordan Veretout (AS Roma, loan), Riccardo Saponara (Genoa, loan), Jaime Baez (Cosenza, free), Simone Minelli (Teramo, free) ), Alban Lafont (Nantes loan), Martin Grainciar (Sparta Prague) loan), Amidu Salifu (Al-Salmiya loan), David Hancko (Sparta Prague loan), Petko Hristov (Bisceglie loan), Rafik Zekhnini ( FC Twente, loan)
Last season : 16th
Now under new ownership, there is a renewed conviction in Florence that La Viola can taste good times again.
Last season, they flirted with relegation and a place in Serie B, which only move together and ultimately stay at the best margins. The fallout was huge, by no means to be tolerated again.
In Cam Rocco Commisso, based in New York. But while it was all over with the old and the new in the boardroom, the dug-out remained a suppressed Vincenzo Montella.
Montella is in the spotlight when a few of his colleagues are kicked for a single ball. Kevin-Prince Boateng has arrived from Sassuolo and Franck Ribery has been released after leaving Bayern Munich. Neither does mediocrity accept in a club with a proud history in European competitions.
Newcomers represent real quality, Erick Pulgar, one of the gems of their summer window. Keeping Federico Chiesa is another important piece of the puzzle with the hope of taking on a challenge for a European place this season.
And given the tools they now have at their disposal, the pressure with Montella to build a capable side of standing is strong from start to finish.
Fiorentina fans can look forward to Kevin- Prince Boateng (L) and Franck Ribery (R)
FAN VERDICT – Viola Nation ( @Viola_Nation )
Fiorentina enjoyed of a tumultuous out of season, marked by Rocco Commisso who buys the club from the Della Valle brothers.
The Italian-American billionaire keeps Vincenzo Montella as a coach and hungry for Federico Chiesa prize money.
With smart additions such as Milan Badelj, Erick Pulgar, Pol Lirola and Kevin-Prince Boateng, the team looks solid, although not spectacular.
The addition of Franck Ribery, however, is encouraging, and this team could be a challenge for European places again next year, especially if youngsters like Riccardo Sottil, Luca Ranieri, Aleksa Terzic and especially Dusan Vlahovic step up.
GENOA
Manager Aurelio Andreazzoli
Transfers in Stefano Sturaro (Juventus £ 15 m) , Andrea Favilli (Juventus, £ 6.3 m), Lukas Lerager (Bordeaux, £ 5.4 m), Pawel Jaroszynski (Chievo Verona, £ 3.6 m), Kevin Agudelo (Atletico Huila, £ 2.25 m) , Nicholas Rizzo (Inter, £ 2.25 million), Lasse Schone (Ajax, £ 1.35 million), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan, free), Sinan Gumus (Galatasaray, free), Riccardo Saponara (Fiorentina, loan), Antonio Barreca (Monaco, loan), Francesco Cassata (Sassuolo loan), Andrea Pinamonti (Interlening), Cristian Romero (Juventus loan), Marko Pajac (Cagliari loan), Ionut Radu (Inter loan),
Genoa has sold Cristian Romero to Juventus but has loaned him this summer
Transfers Oct. : Cristian Romero (Juventus, £ 23m), Ionut Radu (Inter, £ 10.8m), Eddie Salcedo (Inter, £ 7.2m), Luca Sanimacchia (Juventus U23, £ 3.6 m), Nicolas Spolli (Crotone, £ 360,000), Miguel Veloso (Hellas Verona free), Gianni Palmese (Gavorrano free), Marco Soprano (Teramo free), Alessandro Quaini (AC Pisa free) , Mario Ierardi (South Tyrol free), Darko Lazovic (Hellas) Verona, free), Thomas Rodriguez (La Calera, free), Mariano Bernardini (Pontedera, free), Ivan Lakicevic (Venezia, loan), Claudio Spinelli (Gimnasia, loan), Koray Gunter (Hellas Verona, loan), Gianluca Lapadula (Lecce, loan), Giacomo Calo (Juve Stabia, loan), Federico Valietti (Virtus Entell a, loan), Nicola Dalmonte (FC Lugano, loan), Stephane Omeonga (Cercle Bruges, loan)
Last s Eason : 17th
Although a relegation fight for many in Florence was a shock, there were people on the terraces in Genoa bracing themselves. Ultimately, they also avoided the dreaded fall at Empoli's expense and they have no desire to do it in the same way in this campaign.
Controversial President Enrico Preziosi has provided funds on the transfer market with experienced central midfielder Lasse Schone, Ajax, one of the striking pick-ups.
Cristian Romero, sold to Juventus before coming on loan for 2019-20, is another expected to shine this season, even if it seems to be a bumpy start
Aurelio Andreazzoli starts with a daunting trip to the Stadio Olympico to take on a rejuvenated side of Rome before taking on Fiorentina and Atalanta.
While, on paper at least, there appear to be three teams worse than them, Genoa has to show that they have learned lessons from last year's debilitating and draining campaign.
FAN VERDICT – Drew Farmer (DrewMFarmer)
A new seaso means a new manager at Genoa. Heaven helps us. After being nearly relegated last season and going through three managers (and cashing in the leading scorer Krzysztof Piatek in January), Genoa handed over the former Empoli boss Aurelio Andreazzoli.
He had two spells at Empoli in 2018-19 as they were relegated. It is a great start to the new season at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris (sarcasm). Genoa has promising players such as Antonio Sanabria, Oscar Hiljemark and Stefano Sturaro. They also added Lasse Schone who sparkled for Ajax in the Champions League last term.
Enrico Preziosi will sell the club's top players in January if they do well. It seems like an endless cycle in Genoa and it is hard not to be cynical. They should be a mid-table team, but don't be surprised if they fight the drop again.
HELLAS VERONA
[1945902] Manager : Ivan Juric
Transfers in : Pawel Dawidowicz (Ben45), £ 3 , 15 million), Samuel Di Carmine (Perugia, £ 2.25 million), Amir Rrahmani (Dinamo Zagreb, £ 1.9 million), Antonio Di Gaudio (Parma, £ 1.35 million), Luca Marrone (Juventus, £ 900,000), Alberto Almici (Atalanta, £ 450,000), Davide Faraoni (Crotone, £ 270,000), Vincenzo Silvestro (Mantova, £ 84,000), Salvatore Bocchetti (Spartak Moscow, free), Miguel Veloso (Genoa, free), Darko Lazovic ( Genoa, free), Emmanuel Badu (Udinese loan), Boris Radunovic (Atalanta loan), Valerio Verre (Sampdoria loan), Gennaro Tutino (Napoli loan), Koray Gunter (Genoa loan)
Transfers from : Mattia Valoti (SPAL, £ 2.7m), Mohamed Fares (SPAL, £ 2.43m), Antonio Caracciolo (Cremonese, £ 360,000), Enrico Bearzotti (Modena, free), Matteo Bianchetti (Cre monese, free), Gaetano Navas (Mantova, free), Lorenzo Fe rena (Siena, free), Deian Boldor (FK Partizani, loan), Vincenzo Silvestro (Rimini, loan), Andrea Badan (Carrarese, loan), Nicolo Casale ( Venezia, loan), Karaomko Cisse (Juve Stabia, loan), Karim Laribi (Empoli, loan), Jure Balkovec (Empoli, loan), Edoardo Pavan (Pontedera, loan), Rayyan Baniya (Renate, loan)
Last season : Series B play-off winners
While Brescia and Lecce went toe-to-toe for the Series B title, Hellas Verona arrived through the back door after a fifth placed finish . The playoffs came and went and Verona was toasting a famous season in which they went back to the big days.
After much commotion about their managerial role, Ivan Juric is now sitting and drawing early in the chair looks encouraging. Positive expressions against much stronger pre-season teams suggest they can find a way to make games difficult for their opponents – an important feature in view of the fact that they will spend numerous games with lower stats.
The odds have remained stacked against them after finishing fifth in the second layer last season. But British Serie A fans will hope Verona has enough in the tank to compete, especially with Scotsman Liam Henderson ready to play a role in the first XI.
Henderson is preparing for the first Scot to play in Series A since Graeme Souness and he will want a positive memory if he looks back on it long after his career ends.
Juric bestaat al lang genoeg om te weten dat thuiswedstrijden van vitaal belang zijn en ze gewoon zich moeilijk te verslaan moeten maken. Dat en ze zullen de helft van de kans hebben om de druppel te verslaan.
Hellas Verona heeft deze zomer Ivan Juric aangesteld als manager en hij zal proberen ze in stand te houden
FAN VERDICT – Rick Hough ( @rick_hough )
Weinigen in Verona hebben verwachtingen die verder gaan dan overleven. Een golf van optimisme vloog kort over de club aan het einde van vorig seizoen.
Een laatste spannende play-off voor een overvolle Bentegodi was een opwindende herinnering aan de gloriedagen van de club toen de Giallioblu op wonderbaarlijke wijze de Scudetto optilde.
Maar een vernederende nederlaag van de Derde Ronde beker thuis op Cremonese op zondag was niet de nieuw benoemde hoofdcoach waar Ivan Juric op hoopte.
Liam Henderson wordt de eerste Scot die in de Serie A speelt sinds Graeme Souness, terwijl doelpunten van veteraan-spits Giampaolo Pazzini cruciaal zijn als Verona op wil blijven. Ondertussen zal Balotelli's aankomst in Brescia (Verona heeft hem tevergeefs geprobeerd te ondertekenen) een extra dimensie toevoegen aan de fel betwiste Derby del Garda.
INTER
[1945902] Manager : Antonio Conte
Transfers in : Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United, £ 73 miljoen), Valentino Lazaro (Hertha Berlin, £ 20 miljoen), Matteo Politano (Sassuolo, £ 18 miljoen), Ionut Radu (Genua, £ 10,8 miljoen), Eddie Salcedo (Genua, £ 7,2 miljoen), Gabriel Brazao (Parma, £ 6 miljoen) ), Lucien Agoume (Sochaux, £ 4 miljoen), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid, gratis), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari, lening), Stefano Sensi (Sassuolo, lening)
Transfers uit : Zingo Vanheusden (Standard Liege, £11m), George Puscas (Reading, £7.2m), Marco Sala (Sassuolo, £4.5m), Cristian Ansaldi (Torino, £2.25m), Nicholas Rizzo (Genoa, £2.25m), Rey Manaj (Albacente, £1.8m), Ivan Perisic (Bayern Munich, loan), Ionut Radu (Genoa, loan), Andreaw Gravillon (Sassuolo, loan), Yann Karamoh (Parma, loan), Michele Di Gregorio (Pordenone , loan ), Gabriel Brazao (Albacete, loan), Marco Pompetti (Sampdoria, loan), Sam uele Longo (Deportivo La Coruna, loan), Xian Emmers (Waasl-Beveren, loan), Matteo Rover (Sudtirol, loan), Radja Nainggolan (Cagliari, loan), Andrea Pinamonti (Genoa, loan), Alessandro Mattioli (Modena, free), Miranda (JS Suning, free)
Last season: 4th
An Inter side created with a former Juventus visionary at the helm, the Nerazzuri have gone from nearly-men to legitimate title challengers in a single summer.
Last season under Luciano Spalletti was by no means a disaster of Fiorentina proportions, but the gap to champions Juventus appeared to be getting bigger, not smaller.
And so in came Conte, and with it his preferred 3-5-2 which got plenty of action during his time at both Juventus and Chelsea. Diego Godin, Stefano Sensi, Nicolo Barella, Valentino Lazaro and Romelu Lukaku represent high-quality additions and Conte has rid the squad of players he felt would not ‘buy-in’ to his incredibly demanding regime.
The arrival of Godin on a free feels particularly significant. Built physically and mentally to deal with the demands of Italian football, he will be part of what is arguably the greatest defence in the division alongside Stefan de Vrij and Milan Skriniar.
But Conte’s inability to so far shift exiled forward Mauro Icardi remains the one black mark against him and the club chiefs this summer.
Conte is a proven winner and in Lautaro Martinez and Lukaku, with Barella in behind, the team has plenty of firepower. While this side will be given time to gel before going full-tilt next season for the title, Inter do not need to be told they have a serious shot at the Scudetto crown this time round.
Antonio Conte has been aggressive in the transfer market to make Inter Serie A contenders
FAN VERDICT – Nima Tavallaey Roodsari (Founder of Sempre Inter – @NimaTavRood)
It has been a long time coming, and this summer it finally came: the revolution every Inter has been screaming for since May 23, 2010, the day after the treble was secured.
WEEK ONE FIXTURES
SATURDAY
Parma vs Juventus – 5pm
Fiorentina vs Napoli – 7:45pm
SUNDAY
Udinese vs AC Milan – 5pm
Cagliari vs Brescia – 7:45pm
SPAL vs Atalanta – 7:45pm
Roma vs Genoa – 7:45pm
Hellas Verona vs Bologna – 7:45pm
Sampdoria vs Lazio – 7:45pm
Torino vs Sassuolo – 7:45pm
MONDAY
Inter vs Lecce – 7:45pm
With parent owner company Suning having, in only three years, almost trebled the club's revenues and subsequently released the club from the shackles of the disastrous settlement agreement with UEFA under which previous club President Erick Thohir had agreed to, this past summer the Chinese For tune 500 company showed their true intentions in the transfer window.
Having money to spend is one thing, spending it wisely is another and the latter is exactly what Inter have done. Antonio Conte was appointed in early June and within weeks Diego Godin (free), midfielder Stefano Sensi (loan with option to buy) and young midfield sensation Nicolo Barella were all announced.
Shortly after Romelu Lukaku was signed with Alexis Sanchez and Cristiano Biraghi set to soon follow suit, with maybe yet more to come.
Every single signing has been made with the thought of suiting Conte's tactical set up. All of this was done to help Conte achieve the objective that Suning in no uncertain terms set him up with: win the Serie A within two seasons.
Although, it will be very difficult to see Inter do that this season, the bare minimum is to improve on last season which translates to: a minimum 3rd place finish in the Serie A, qualifying from the group stages of the Champions League and reaching the final of the Coppa Italia. Anything below that is a failure.
Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku will be tasked with scoring goals for the Milanese side
JUVENTUS
Manager: Maurizio Sarri
Transfers in: Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax, £76m), Danilo (Manchester City, £33m), Cristian Romero (Genoa, £23m), Luca Pellegrini (AS Roma, £20m), Merih Demiral (Sassuolo, £16m), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal, free), Gianluigi Buffon (PSG, free), Adrien Rabiot (PSG, free)
Transfers out: Joao Cancelo (Manchester City, £58m), Leonardo Spinazzola (AS Roma, £26m), Moise Kean (Everton, 24m), Emil Audero (Sampdoria, £18m), Stefano Sturaro (Genoa, £15m), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna, £13.5m), Alberto Cerri (Cagliari, £8.1m), Andrea Favilli (Genoa, £6.3m), Rogerio (Sassuolo, £5.4m), Leonardo Mancuso (Empoli, £4.5m), Luca Marrone (Hellas Verona, £900,000), Luca Pellegrini (Cagliari, loan), Cristian Romero (Genoa, loan)
Last season: Champions
Winning almost felt too easy for Juventus last year and it got the club’s hierarchy thinking. Winning is great, but they want to do it with a more attractive – and ultimately sellable – brand of football.
And so they turned to Chelsea to poach Maurizio Sarri having been left impressed by the work he did in Naples before heading to the Premier League.
The chain-smoking former Empoli boss could not be further from the slick, clean-cut figure of Massimiliano Allegri, who departed after leading the club to its eighth successive Serie A crown.
So is it style over substance? Can Sarri imprint his ‘Sarriball’ philosophy on a group that had a borderline win-at-all-costs mentality? Managers who go against the grain in Turin often find roadblocks they cannot move.
Take Gigi Maifredi in the early 1990s. Managing a team that including the great Roberto Baggio, his desire to imprint his philosophy on his players saw Juventus fall flat and within no time he was gone.
Juventus will want Sarri to hit the ground running, quelling any talk in the club’s vociferous Curva Sud that he mirrors Maifredi.
With Cristiano Ronaldo still leading the line and Paulo Dybala remaining an option after seeing moves to Tottenham and Manchester United collapse earlier this month, the Old Lady still has a side that is the envy of all their rivals.
All eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo once more as Juventus look to win a ninth straight title
FAN VERDICT – Rav Gopal (@juvefcdotcom)
For me, this season has all the makings of a transitional one for Juventus. We're making our first marked shift in terms of playing style by opting for a coach with a distinct philosophy of how to play the game, and that will inevitably take time to implement.
With that in mind, I think it's realistic to aim for the Serie A title again and to make a deep run in the Champions League, but such a shift is bound to have an impact on the core of the team, so I have patience this year.
So much will depend on how quickly the players adapt, but after eight years of domestic success and two Champions League finals in the last five years, my fear is that Sarri doesn't get the time he deserves to make this team his own.
The team are set to show a different playing style as Maurizio Sarri imprints his philosophy
LAZIO
Manager: Simone Inzaghi
Transfers in: Manuel Lazzari (SPAL, £10m), Denis Vavro (FC Copenhagen, £9.5m), Pedro Neto (Braga, £7.65m), Bruno Jordao (Braga, £4m), Jony (Malaga, £1.8m), Sofian Kiyine (Chievo Verona, £675,000), Bobby Adekanye (Liverpool U23, free)
Transfers out: Pedro Neto (Wolves, £16.5m), Bruno Jordao (Wolves, £8m), Alessandro Murgia (SPAL, £3.15m), Mattia Sp rocati (Parma, £2m), Lorenzo Filippini (AS Gubbio, free), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina, loan), Marius Adamonis (Catanzao, loan), Abukar Mohamed (Karpaty, loan), Sofian Kiyine (Salernitana, loan), Davide Di Gennaro (Juve Stabia, loan), Simone Palombi (Cremonese, loan), Cristiano Lambardi (Salernitana, loan), Andreas Karo (Salernitana, loan), Fabio Maistro (Salernitana, loan), Alessandro Rossi (Juve Stabia, loan)
Last season: 8th
In the end it was depth that cost Lazio last season. Cup competitions soon took on greater significance and their faith in those tournaments paid off come May when they went on to lift the Coppa Italia.
But an eighth-placed finish domestically left fans longing for more from a side that has ambitions to gatecrash an ever competitive top four.
Transfer activity has remained largely modest when put into context alongside rivals such as Juventus, Inter, and of course, Roma.
Manchester United target Sergej Milinkovic-Savic remains in the Italian capital and that is as good a piece a business as any new signing. Simone Inzaghi’s side will believe they can get closer to those first four spots but face a tough task given Inter, Juventus and Napoli all expect to be challenging for the title.
One or two more faces before the transfer window closes on September 2 could change expectations for better or worse.
Failure to add at least one more high-quality attacker and Lazio could find themselves on the outside looking in once more when it comes to the top four.
Simone Inzaghi helped guide Lazio to cup success last term but at the cost of a top four battle
FAN VERDICT – Steven Moore (@S_K_MOORE)
Securing their seventh Coppa Italia title in 2018-19, Lazio will be eager to finish in a top four spot to achieve their goal of UEFA Champions League football this upcoming season.
To ensure they turn their dreams into reality, management have invested a respectable amount to reinforce and bolster the squad available to Simone Inzaghi.
This includes the likes of Copenhagen's Denis Vavro for the back line, SPAL's Manuel Lazzari for the right flank, and Malaga's Jony for the left flank, who are all valued as extremely promising acquisitions for the club.
Completing pre-season with nine wins from nine matches – scoring 59 goals while conceding just nine – this looks to be one of the most optimistic starts to Le Aquile's campaign that they have had in quite some time, leaving me exhilarated for what is to come.
LECCE
Manager: Fabio Liverani
Transfers in: Romario Benzar (Steaua Bucharest, £1.8m), Brayan Vera (Leones, £720,000), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Nottingham Forest, £450,000), Biagio Meccariello (Brescia, £90,000), Andrea Rispoli (Palermo, free), Yevhen Shakhov (PAOK Salonika, free), Simone Lo Faso (Palermo, free), Gabriel (Perugia, free), Antonino Gallo (Palermo, free), Diego Farias (Cagliari, loan), Gianluca Lapadula (Genoa, loan), Cristian Dell'Orco (Sassuolo, loan)
Transfers out: Salvatore Caturano (Virus Entella, £180,000), Luca Di Matteo (Teramo, free), Antonio Marino (Venezia, free), Andrea Arrigoni (Terramo, free), Andrea Morelli (Sanremese, loan)
Last season: Runners-up in Serie B
Few supporters need telling how difficult it will be for Lecce to hold their own against big-spe ndin g rivals this season. Like Brescia and Hellas Verona, they are expected to go straight back down having won promotion last year.
But a surge in season ticket sales and new arrivals in a host of positions suggests those who know the club best feel they can pull a rabbit or two from the hat in 2019-20.
They scored the second most goals in Serie B last season but life in the top tier will prove far more daunting a prospect and it will not get much tougher than opening with an away trip to face Inter.
Add to this that they face Torino, Napoli, Roma, Atalanta, Milan, Juventus and Sampdoria in the first 10 games and it would be a worry to see 30 points pass them by so early in the campaign.
Fabio Liverani lasted just seven games when he was in charge of Genoa but since taking charge of Lecce when they were in Serie C, consecutive promotions show the former Leyton Orient boss has the Midas touch in the region.
Stay up an d it will be one of the club’s great campaigns.
Lecce are favourites to go down but fans are hoping that the plucky underdogs can compete
FAN VERDICT – Marco Resta (@FootballLecce)
The expectations and the hopes for this new adventure in Serie A are largely to compete, trying to secure safety from relegation as soon as possible. The strengths of this team are the humility and cohesion of the group, fans and technical staff.
There is great enthusiasm among the Lecce fans, at the moment about 16,000 season ticket passes have been signed – crazy numbers that testify to the attachment and passion of the fans.
There is not one player that stands out more than the others, the strength of this team is the group. La gente come noi non molla mai!
MILAN
Manager: Marco Giampaolo
Transfers in: Rafael Leao (Lille, £22.5m), Franck Kessie (Atalanta, £21.6m), Theo Hernandez (Real Madrid, £18m), Ismael Bennacer (Empoli, £14.4m), Leo Duarte (Flamengo, £10m), Rade Krunic (Empoli, £7.2m)
Transfers out: Patrick Cutrone (Wolves, £17m), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo, £9m), Gustavo Gomez (Palmeiras, £4m), Stefan Simic (Hajduk Split, £450,000), Cristian Zapata (Genoa, free), Andres Llamas (Pistoiese, free), Tommaso Pobega (Pordenone, loan), Ismet Sinani (Sicula Leonzio, loan), Alessandro Plizzari (AS Livorno, loan)
Last season: 5th
The heartache remains raw from last season, missing out on the top four on the final day – and with it Champions League football – to bitter rivals Inter.
Add to that supporters have had to watc h Conte’s side splash the cash while their own boss, Giampaolo, has had to be much more savvy in the market.
After five games as Brescia boss Giampaolo went AWOL. He did not show up for training, his phone was off and the club had no way of tracking him down. The pressure had got to him – that simply cannot afford to happen at a club the size of Milan.
Former boss Genaro Gattuso was often criticised for his inability to mix up his tactics and similar grievances have been voices about Giampaolo during his time as Sampdoria boss. But signings and the choice of manager suggest the club are moving in the right direction.
Functional, if rather unspectacular, players have arrived in the shape of Theo Hernandez, Ismael Bennacer and Rade Krunic and all will play a role in the manager’s preferred 4-3-1-2 formation.
The sale of Patrick Cutrone to Wolves has ramped up the pressure on striker Krzysztof Piatek, but after summers where they spent money like they were playing Monopoly, common sense has returned as Milan look to challenge the top order without the accountant working treble time.
AC Milan risk behind left in the shadows of big-spending neighbours Inter Milan this summer
FAN VERDICT – Marcello Furgiuele (@MilanWeeklyPOD)
Milan has acquired six new players and all agreed long-term contracts. Building for now and the future, youngsters who Milan hope can grow, develop and remain with the team for years to come in Hernandez, Krunic, Leao, Duarte and Bennacer.
With Inter splashing the cash, it would have been nice to sign a top player, but given the current financial situation with the club vis a vis FFP, it makes sense to spend in a smart, strategic way.
Giampaolo is changing Milan's formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-3-1-2 and it will take time and patience to see the results of that. The primary concern of fans: does Giampaolo have the right profiles of players to fit his system?
Piatek hasn't scored since taking the No 9 shirt and he will also need time to adapt to the new tactics. With little time left before the window ends, Milan need to sell some players before getting any new ones. Without a bit more quality added to the team, Milan face a dog fight to battle for that elusive fourth Champions League spot.
The pressure is on manager Marco Giampaolo to coach players to be better than their rivals
NAPOLI
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti
Transfers in: Kostas Manolas (AS Roma, £32m), Alex Meret (Udinese, £20m), Eljif Elmas (Fenerbahce, £15m), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Empoli, £7.2m), David Ospina (Arsenal, £3m), Orestis Karnezis (Udinese, £2.25m), Michael Folorunsho (Francavilla, £900,000), Eugenio D'Ursi (Catanzaro, £900,000), Luigi Liguori (Bari, free)
Transfers out: Amadou Diawara ( AS R oma, £19m), Carlos Vinicius (Benfica, £15m), Raul Albiol (Villarreal, £4.5m), Roberto Insigne (Benevento, £1.4m), Igor Lasicki (Pogon Szczecin, £180,000), Roberto Inglese (Parma, loan), Alessio Zerbin (Cesena, loan), Filippo Costa (Bari, loan), Gennaro Tutino (Hellas Verona, loan), Nikita Contini (Virtus Entella, loan), Franco Ferrari (Bari, loan), Eugenio D'Ursi (Bari, loan), Michael Folorunsho (Bari, loan)
Last season: 2nd
Having seemingly come so close to beating Juventus to the title in 2017-18, last season came as a real disappointment to Napoli.
The Neopolitans had gone from behind four points behind to 11 points just 12 months on and similar will not be tolerated in this campaign.
Consistency sides with Napoli while their rivals find themselves adapting to the demands of new managers in Sarri and Conte.
Ancelotti has evolved a 4-4-2 system which is built on the defensive foundations set by star man Kalidou Koulibaly. Already one of the finest defenders in Europe, pairing him with Roma’s Kostas Manolas this summer really is a stroke of genius.
Links to Mauro Icardi continue to gather pace before the close of the window but Arkadiusz Milik is, for now at least, the man expected to deliver the goals.
While a lot of fans thought 2017-18 was their best chance to overthrow Juventus, this campaign really does seem like Napoli’s greatest opportunity to dethrone the Old Lady.
Kostas Manolas was the big-name arrival this summer at Napoli having joined from AS Roma
FAN VERDICT – Ken Cioffredi (@FarFromVesuvius)
Coming in to the 2019-20 season, Napoli are coming off their third second place finish in Serie A in the last four years. Carlo Ancelotti will enter his second year at the helm of the club, and the fans hope that Napoli's stability during coaching changes around the league this season will help their cause.
In the transfer market, Napoli have brought in Kostas Manolas from Roma to strengthen their defence, as well as right back Giovanni Di Lorenzo from Empoli, and budding midfielder Eljif Elmas from Fenerbahce.
The imminent arrival of PSV winger Hirving Lozano seems to be the clubs fourth purchase… and then there's those James Rodriguez and Mauro Icardi rumours that won't die.
Napoli stand to be competitive on all fronts this season and fans' expectations are higher than ever.
Carlo Ancelotti is one of the few managers to stay in his position in Serie A this summer
PARMA
Manager: Roberto D'Aversa
Transfers in: Andrea Adorante (Inter, £4.5m), Gaston Brugman (Pescara, £2.25m), Mattia Sprocati (Lazio, £2m), Jose Machin (Pescara, £1.8m), Simone Colombi (Carpi, £675,000), Walid Cheddira (Sangiuestese, £84,000), Roberto Inglese (Napoli, loan), Yann Karamoh (Inter, loan), Fabrizio Alastra (Palermo, free), Luca Zamparo (Reggiana, free), Kastriot Dermaku (Cosenza, free)
Transfers out: Gabriel Brazao (Inter, £6m), Leo Stulac (Empoli, £2.25m), Antonio Di Gaudio (Hellas Verona, £1.4m), Matteo Brunori (Pescara, £450,000), Lorenzo Adorni (Vis Pesaro, free), Luca Zamparo (Rimini, loan), Abdou Diakhate (KSC Lokeren, loan), Cristian Cauz (Trapani, loan), Michele Fornasier (Trapani, loan), Jacopo Dezi (Empoli, loan), Walid Cheddira (Arezzo, loan), Giuseppe Carriero (Monopoli, loan)
Last season: 14th
Back in Serie A last season after bankruptcy saw them sent back to the drawing board, down to Serie D and a massive rebuild, from top to bottom, was required.
They fought their way back, season upon season rising through the leagues and back in the top flight, it proved surprisingly less turbulent than some supporters had braced themselves for as they finished 14th.
It was a season that has given them plenty to build on now. Look at their daunting trip to the Allianz Stadium as an example. Heroics from former Arsenal attacker Gervinho saw them impress as they salvaged a point in a 3-3 draw.
Roberto D’Aversa open against Juventus and anything close to as exciting as last season’s draw will be a hit with Calcio fans.
The key this season will be remaining competitive on multiple fronts. Going into the Coppa Italia at the third round stage, D’Aversa will hope a cup run materialises, while also looking to propel his players to a top-half finish.
Relegation should be off the cards.
Roberto D'Aversa oversaw a tense end to the season but will look to build on 14th place
FAN VERDICT – Giovanni Dougall (@Solo_Parma)
After the tense end to the season last year, I fully expect Parma to build on survival and have a more comfortable end to the campaign this time round.
D'Aversa has strengthened well by re-recruiting the likes of Roberto Inglese, Luigi Sepe and Alberto Grassi.
On top of these new recruits Parma have added strength in depth, something that was lacking last season, bringing in the likes of Gaston Brugman, Dejan Kulusevski and Andrea Cornelius.
D'Aversa has also added some quality to the squad adding exciting young french prospect Yann Karamoh from Inter as well as Hernani from Zenit and French defender Vincent Laurini from Fiorentina. I expect Parma once again to survive albeit a little more comfortable than last season by finishing in the top half of the bottom half of the table.
ROMA
Manager: Paulo Fonseca
Transfers in: Leonardo Spinazzola (Juventus, £27m), Pau Lopez (Real Betis, £21m), Amadou Diawara (Napoli, £19m), Bryan Cristante (Atalanta, £19m), Mert Cetin (Genclerbirligi, £2.7m), Gianluca Mancini (Atalanta, loan), Jordan Veretout (Fiorentina, loan)
Transfers out: Kostas Manolas (Napoli, £32m), Luca Pellegrini (Juventus, £20m), Stephan El Shaarawy (SH Shenhua, £14.4m), Gerson (Flamengo, £11m), Ivan Marcano (FC Porto, £2.7m), Ezequiel Ponce (Spartak Moscow, £2.7m), Andrea Romagnoli (Spartak 2, £1.8m), Daniele Verde (AEK Athens, £900,000), Elio Capradossi (Spezia, £900,000), Christian D'Urso (Cittadella, £450,000), Daniele de Rossi (Boca Juniors, free), Lorenzo Crisanto (Alessandria, free), Steven Nzonzi (Galatasaray, loan), Rick Karsdorp (Feyenoord, loan), Lorenzo Valeau (Imolese , lo an)
Last season: 6th
Bleak. That is the word best used to describe how it all ended last season in the Italian capital.
While Lazio toasted silverware having won the Coppa Italia, Roma had far bigger issues to contend with as manager Eusebio Di Francesco – the man who took the club to the Champions League semi-finals the previous season – and technical director Monchi shipped out.
Club legend Daniele de Rossi was also out, opting to continue his career at Boca Juniors after Roma failed to offer him terms to stay, to the astonishment of supporters.
But things are beginning to look up for The Giallorossi under former Shakhtar Donestk boss Paulo Fonseca.
The side is bursting at the seems with some of Italy’s brightest young talents in Nicolo Zaniolo, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Justin Kluivert, Cengiz Under, Bryan Cristante, and Patrik Schick.
Few have yet to fulfil their potential but very few represent anything close to being unproven as the club eye a top four finish alongside the likes of Juventus, Inter and Napoli.
Edin Dzeko has agreed new terms and so any fears of being left light in attack have quickly disappeared. Pressure now lands at the door of
Fonseca to take this talented group – who added Jordan Veretout, Amadou Diawara, Gianluca Mancini and Leonardo Spinazzola – back to the Champions League.
Roma worked hard to keep hold of scorer Edin Dzeko with Inter Milan attempting to sign him
FAN VERDICT – John Solano (@Solano_56)
It's been a summer of change at AS Roma.
After the March departures of sporting director Ramon Monchi and manager Eusebio Di Francesco, Claudio Ranieri guided Roma to a Europa League place finish, marking the end to an extremely disappointing campaign It marked the first time since 2012-13 where Roma didn't finish in a Champions League place – as they were aided by AC Milan's European suspension due to FFP irregularities.
Roma welcomed Torino sporting director Gianluca Petrachi and manager Paulo Fonseca in June to lead this new Roma. Petrachi has been tasked with overhauling a squad rife with mistakes made by his predecessor – something he's done quite successfully to date.
The Giallorossi splashed out on a new goalkeeper in Pau Popez from Real Betis and also welcome the likes of Amadou Diawara from Napoli, Jordan Veretout from Fiorentina and Leonardo Spinazzola from Juventus. With a new manager and an overhauled squad, Fonseca will have the task of guiding Roma back into the top four. The Giallorossi are heavily reliant on Champions League income and they can't afford another outside of the competition. So the goal and the objective of AS Roma seems clear and obvious: it's Champions League qualification or nothing.
Paulo Fonseca is overseeing major changes on and off the pitch as the club makes its rebuild
SAMPDORIA
Manager: Eusebio di Francesco
Transfers in: Emil Audero (Juventus, £18m), Jakub Jankto (Udinese, £13m), Fabio Depaoli (Chievo Verona, £4m), Alex Ferrari (Bologna, £4m), Julian Chabot (FC Groningen, £3.33m), Mehdi Leris (Chievo Verona, £2.25m), Leonardo Benedetti (Spezia, £800,000), Jeison Murillo (Valencia, loan), Gonzalo Maroni (Boca Juniors, loan), Morten Thorsby (Heerenveen, free), Marco Pompetti (Inter, l oan)
Transfers out: Joachim Andersen (Lyon, £22m), Dennis Praet (Leicester, £20m), Erasmo Mule (Juventus U23, £4.5m), Michal Tomic (MSK Zilina, £225,000), Federico Furlan (Ternana, £170,000), Marco Sau (Benevento, free), Gomes Ricciulli (Vis Pesaro, free), Denis Baumgartner (FK Senica, free), Abou Diop (Paganese, free), Rafael (Reading, free), Maxime Leverbe (Chievo Verona, free), Lorenco Simic (HNK Rijeka, loan), Vid Belec (Apoel Nicosia, loan), Valerio Verre (Hellas Verona, loan)
Sampdoria have taken another buy and sell approach as they push for a European spot
Last season: 9th
So reports in Italy say that Gianluca Vialli is leading a group of investors trying to buy the club this summer. Questions over the ownership of Massimo Ferrero have swirled all summer and now appear close to being answered.
There has been change in the dugout, too. Out goes Marco Giampaolo and in comes former Roma boss Eusebio Di Francesco, a man determined to rebuild his reputation after a sour end to life in the Italian capital.
A strong summer in the transfer market has seen Di Francesco make a number of astute acquisitions, none less than the loan capture of Gonzalo Maroni from Boca Juniors. The hope is Sampdoria can harness his talent to turn him into a star this season (with the hope, no doubt, of keeping him permanently).
It was the form of 36-year-old Fabio Quagliarella last season that helped Sampdoria to a ninth-placed finish. The veteran could not stop scoring en route to claiming the annual golden boot award.
Still in the picture, just, for Euro 2020, Quagliarella will see most of the burden land at his door to score the goals to have Sampdoria challenging for a spot in next season’s Europa League.
But if the evergreen striker is not given some more help this time round in a year he turns 37, Di Francesco could take the club back, rather than forward.
FAN VERDICT: Vito Doria (@VitoCDoria)
Although Sampdoria have gone through their usual buy and sell approach this summer, I still expect the Doriani to fight for a place in Europe.
A coach like Eusebio Di Francesco, who has experienced European football with Sassuolo and Roma, can make it possible. Fabio Quagliarella is still in great shape despite his 36 years and Di Francesco's attacking philosophy should suit the evergreen striker.
My concern is off the pitch with the ownership situation, which has been dragging on all summer. Sampdoria fans want club legend Gianluca Vialli to become the new president but current patron Massimo Ferrero has made negotiations difficult.
SASSUOLO
Manager: Roberto de Zerbi
Transfers in: Manuel Locatelli (AC Milan, £9m), Merih Demiral (Alanyaspor, £8.3m), Pedro Obiang (West Ham, £7m) Francesco Caputo (Empoli, £6.75m), Rogerio (Juventus, £5.4m), Mert Muldur (Rapid Vienna, £4.5m), Marco Sala (Inter, £4.5m), Jeremy Toljan (Borussia Dortmund, loan), Andreaw Gravillon (Inter, loan), Hamed Junior Traore (Empoli, loan)
Transfers out: Matteo Politano (Inter, £18m), Merih Demiral (Juventus, £16m), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Fiorentina, £900,000), Antonino Ragusa (Hellas Verona, £900,000), Stefano Sensi (Inter, loan), Pol Lirola (Fiorentina, loan), Luca Ravanelli (Cremonese, loan), Marco Sala (Virtus Entella, loan), Federico Ricci (Spezia, loan), Cristian Dell'Orco (Lecce, loan), Federico Di Francesco (SPAL, loan), Giangiacomo Magnani (Brescia, loan), Francesco Cassata (Genoa, loan) , Je ns Odgaard (Heerenveen, loan)
Last season: 11th
The fact Sassuolo finished 11th last season only tells half of the story. Just five points separated the club from the drop and the magnitude of that will not be lost on boss Roberto De Zerbi.
Home form is a huge asset to Sassuolo – they beat Inter on their own patch early on last season. But just four wins away from home is the scary statistic that De Zerbi will be determined to fix this time round.
And he will try to fix it having lost three key players in Stefano Sensi (Inter), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Fiorentina) and Merih Demiral (Juventus).
Journeyman striker Francesco Caputo feels like the key to it all in 2019-20. His 16 goals were not enough to keep Empoli from dropping out of the division last season but he more than caught the eye; a move this summer was never in doubt.
Caputo and rising star Hamed Junior Traore will look to haul a team into Europa League contention despite far inferior budgets and star names.
Roberto de Zerbi is overseeing Sassuolo's seventh consecutive season competing in Serie A
FAN VERDICT – Riccardo Bianchini (@BianchiniR8)
For a small city like Sassuolo, taking part in their seventh consecutive Serie A brings great pride.
A team like Sassuolo, which does not aim to win the championship but to secure safety early, must sell its best stars every year to finance itself and then we reinvest this money in other young players.
Sassuolo sold four of the starting lineup (Lirola, Demiral, Sensi and Boateng) and this created frustration for fans as having tasted Europa League football in 2016, we would like to return.
SPAL
Manager: Leonardo Semplici
Transfers in: Andrea Petagna (Atalanta, £11m), Alessandro Murgia (Lazio, £3.15m), Igor (RB Salzburg, £2.7m), Mattia Valoti (Hellas Verona, £2.7m), Mohamed Fares (Hellas Verona, £2.43m), Davide Mazzocco (Padova, free), Gabriele Moncini (Cittadella, free), Marco D'Alessandro (Atalanta, loan), Karlo Letica (Club Brugge, loan), Etrit Berisha (Atalanta, loan), Federico Di Francesco (Sassuolo, loan)
Transfers out: Manuel Lazzari (Lazio, £10m), Mattia Finotto (Monza, free), Pasquale Schiattarella (Benevento, free)
Last season: 13th
Gone are the days where the men from Ferrara are simply looking to finish a point above the drop zone, survival being the only thing they looked to achieve.
Leonardo Semplici’s side h ave eyes fixed on a top-half finish in 2019-20 and given their attractive brand of football, it would be foolish to take that ambition off the table.
Their Stadio Paolo Mazza remains one of the smallest in a top flight across Europe but proved a difficult place for sides to go last term – Roma found out just how tough it was when they went there and were beaten. Juventus also lost there.
It has been a relatively settled summer in the transfer market given the club had no need to undertake major surgery on their side.
A kind early run of games will be welcomed by striker Andrea Petagna as he looks to warm himself up early in his bid to topple the likes of Edin Dzeko, Duvan Zapata, Fabio Quagliarella and Cristiano Ronaldo for the golden boot.
Leonardo Semplici is all smiles as he looks to carry SPAL into the top half of the table this year
FAN VERDICT – Max Callegari (Mediaset/DAZN journalist – @MaxCallegari)
Semplici means 'simple' and Leonardo Semplici, as Latins used to say, is a good case of 'nomen omen': a man who reflects the spirit of his name. With a fine style of play, he has guided SPAL from the Third Division to Serie A in two years. Now he is aiming to avoid relegation for the third year in a row.
However, this summer is proving to be far from 'simple' for the club. The stadium was put under judicial attachment for a month due to possible irregularities during last year's renovation works.
The transfer market and our season ticket campaign was heavily influenced by the case. Finally, SPAL will play its home debut in their stadium against Atalanta even if the squad has still to be completed. The best player of the last year, home hero Manuel Lazzari, has been sold to Lazio, while the Algerian left back Fares will be out for six months after injuring his left knee.
Former Atalanta winger D'Alessandro, Federico Di Francesco (son of Sampdoria's manager Eusebio) and Albanian goalkeeper Etrit Berisha seem to be good acquisitions but the best deal would be keeping the striker Andrea Petagna, who aims to improve his personal best having scored 16 goals last term.
Andrea Petagna was the money spinner and he will once again play a crucial role for the club
TORINO
Manager: Walter Mazzarri
Transfers in: Cristian Ansaldi (Inter, £2.25m), Koffi Djidji (Nantes, £4m), Ola Aina (Chelsea, £9m), Simone Zaza (Valencia, £11m)
Transfers out: M'Baye Niang (Rennes, £14m), Adem Ljajic (Besiktas, £6m), Danilo Avelar (Corinthians, £2m), Gianluca Piccoli (Giana Erminio, free), Lucas Boye (Reading, loan), Eric k Ferigra (Ascoli, loan), Alessandro Fiordaliso (Venezia, loan), Matteo Rossetti (Avellino, loan), Alessandro Zanellati (AS Gubbio, loan), Manuel De Luca (Virtus Entella, loan)
Last season: 7th
If Walter Mazzarri has made Torino one thing, it is difficult to score against. Juventus’ city neighbours boasted the fifth best defensive record in Serie A last season.
Teams often found themselves blunted, out of ideas, when they visited the club’s Stadio Grande Torino.
Milan’s financial woes saw Torino replace them in the Europa League with a double-header against Premier League side Wolves standing between them and a spot in the group stage.
Should they overcome their English counterparts and make the Europa League, Mazzarri faces a real task juggling multiple competitions for a squad that has seen little depth added this summer.
Fifteen draws from 38 league games last season is a concern, as is the fact they won just four away games – two coming against relegated sides Frosinone and Chievo.
Find a way to turn draws into wins and Torino fans will dare to dream they can gatecrash the top four party.
Torino defied expectations last season, ending up in Europe, and now want to kick on further
FAN VERDICT – Dario Rossi (@da_rossi97)
At the time of writing, Torino has gone through the last preliminary round of qualifying in the Europa League and now face Wolves in the play-offs.
Much of the transfer dealings will depend on whether we progress through this play-off tie.
We need an offensive midfielder, a full-back and a back-up goalkeeper, but all of these moves should be done after the double header against Wolves. The team is strong and determined, after the first year and a half with the new manager Mazzarri.
The objective is to qualify for European competitions for several years in a row and, at the same time, to always strengthen the squad with both young and experienced players. Personally I would be very happy if we finish sixth in the championship and if we reach the quarter-finals in the Europa League.
Walter Mazzarri is changing expectations at the club as he pushes them on to European ties
UDINESE
Manager: Igor Tudor
Transfers in: Walace (Wolfsburg, £5.4m), Rodrigo Becao (Esporte club Bahia, £1.44m), Cristo (Real Madrid, £1.35m), Sebastien De Maio (Bologna, £900k), Nicolas (Hellas Verona, £700k), Ilija Nestorovski (Palermo, free), Mato Jajolo (Palermo, free)
Transfers out: Alex Meret (Napoli, £20m), Jakub Jankto (Sampdoria, £13m), Darwin Machis (Granada, £3m), Orestis Karnezis (Napoli, £2.25m), Molla Wague (Nantes, £1.35m), Emmanuel Badu (Hellas Verona, loan), Cristo (Huesca, loan), Simone Scuffet (Spezia, loan)
Last season: 12th
It felt like for much of last season that relegation, with every passing week, was looking more and more inevitable.
Fans are frustrated at the Pozzo family. They feel the owners are forgetting about them, instead focusing on the success of the other club they own, Premier League side Watford.
Udinese boss Igor Tudor will look to take the core group from last season and build solid foundations for which to enjoy a more comfortable campaign this time round.
Unbeaten in nine of their final 10 league matches last season, Tudor has tools at his disposal despite limited investment this summer.
Top six finishes are a thing of the past, for now at least, and a bottom half finish appears the more realistic target.
Igor Tudor (far right) cuts an animated figure in the technical area during a pre-season friendly
FAN VERDICT – Sonja Cori Missio (@SonjaMissio)
Do you know the Passenger song Catch in the Dark? It's about a man, in love with a woman, whom he doesn't understand, treats him terribly, and will never love him back. That is exactly how it feels to be an Udinese supporter.
I won't bore you with details on how the club has been around since 1896 and still hasn't won a major trophy, or how we instantly sell our best players the second a bigger club shows interest. And I won't give you sob stories about our owner owning a second club (Watford) that gets all the attention (and money/resources/players) or how we're on our 10th coach in five years.
Instead, I will tell you that all of that can be forgiven if Udinese become the club they once were. I am not even talking about titles or trophies, but just the ability to give the big guys a run for their money, without the Little Zebras being trampled over. This season, all eyes with be on captain Kevin Lasagna and winger Rodrigo De Paul as they try to lead the Zebrette up from the drop zone to at least mid-table mediocrity.
After a rocky pre-season, Udinese will need to focus on the defence (which is currently practically non-existent) and their strategy in front of the net. Individually, the players have the talent to get the job done; they just need to learn how to work as a cohesive unit to execute a plan. Or execute anything, really
2019-20 SERIE A BETTING ODDS
Serie A winner
Juventus – 3/10
Inter Milan – 11/2
Napoli – 6/1
AC Milan – 20/1
AS Roma – 33/1
Atalanta – 50/1
Serie A relegated
Lecce: 1/2
Brescia: 6/5
Parma: 2/1
SPAL: 5/2
Cagliari: 4/1
Serie A top goalscorer
Cristiano Ronaldo – 7/4
Mauro Icardi – 7/2
Krzysztof Piatek – 15/4
Duvan Zapata – 8/1
Fabio Quagliarella – 10/1
Ciro Immobile – 14/1
*Odds provided by SportNation.bet
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