Grading How the Top Serie A Teams Fared in the Transfer Market | OneFootball

It wasn’t a particularly bombastic summer for Serie A but, as always, a lot happened in the transfer market, and most teams significantly modified their squad.

Napoli – B+

The Romelu Lukaku blow likely prevented them from executing their plan of adding a quality deputy in every position. They bounced back nicely with Rasmus Hojlund, but it diverted part of the budget. It was an impressive window overall, especially thanks to the Kevin De Bruyne coup. They needed to do a lot and mostly went for safe purchases, Sam Beukema, Lorenzo Lucca, Noa Lang, and Miguel Gutierrez, even if it cost them. They also had a unique chip to cash in with Victor Osimhen. Another right-back and a muscular midfielder wouldn’t have hurt. The late return of Elijf Elmas doesn’t offset getting pipped at the post for Dan Ndoye, but it was a nice touch.

Inter – B-

The picture would look better had they not swung and missed for Ademola Lookman without signing a player of the same caliber afterward. Otherwise, they almost pulled off everything they had set out to do, bringing in energetic backups on the wings (Luis Henrique), in the midfield (Andy Diouf), and in the attack (Ange-Yoan Bonny). They needed a young defender to finish the job. It’s also true that they might not have signed any new starters.

Atalanta – C

They are on the other side of the Lookman saga, and reintegrating him will fix a lot of things. They have taken not-so-cheap shots on players who didn’t fulfill their potential elsewhere, such as Nicola Zalewski and Yunus Musah, but it remains to be seen whether their system will bring out the best in them, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s used to do. Losing just one linchpin (Mateo Retegui), and for a massive fee, is a relative success. They didn’t roll the dice with any talent other than Honest Ahanor, altering their MO, turning to Nenad Krstovic and Kamaldeen Sulemana up front. In the end, the returns from injuries of Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca might turn out to be more relevant than their transfer market moves.

Juventus – B

They saved the best for last with the acquisitions of Lois Openda and Edon Zhegrova after pinching pennies and focusing on the exits all summer long. As for the second part, they completed some tricky ones (Nicolas Gonzales and Douglas Luiz) without taking a bath, but the Dusan Vlahovic soap opera will run for another season, which seemed unthinkable beforehand. Time will tell whether they were correct in using the majority of their funds to shore up the attack instead of investing in a top-notch wing-back, midfielder, or center-back.

Roma – C+

Like Inter, things appear a little worse than they really are because they spent a lot of time after somebody who didn’t join, and they didn’t find an alternative they liked. It wasn’t a glitzy summer like some previous ones, and they strategically insisted on the yoke of the FFP to justify it. They might not have done as much as they hoped, but they addressed their biggest needs with a highly-rated right-back (Wesley), two promising young defenders (Danilo Ghilardi and Jan Ziolkowski), a very intriguing midfielder (Neil El Aynaoui), a pacey attacker (Leon Bailey), and real competition for Artem Dovbyk (Evan Ferguson) and Angelino (Kostas Tsimikas), although the last two joined on loan.

Fiorentina – A-

They flew under the radar because they didn’t do anything too flashy, but they didn’t cash in on anybody, which is a rarity for them on the transfer market, and they added new pieces in several roles, making them better equipped to deal with multiple competitions. They played it safe with Mattia Viti, Simon Sohm, Jacopo Fazzini, and Roberto Piccoli, who are proven but not stellar contributors. That’s a significant influx of talent if nothing goes out the door. They’ll also be able to rest Dodo from time to time after purchasing Tariq Lamptey. Convincing Moise Kean and Pietro Comuzzo to stay was a real feat.

Lazio – N/A

Their achievement is that Maurizio Sarri didn’t resign after finding out that they couldn’t do anything on the transfer market because of some out-of-whack financial parameters, after not informing him of the problem during the hiring process. At least they didn’t have giant holes, but any roster could use some improvements.

Bologna – B-

Their MO didn’t change last year after qualifying for the Champions League, so there was little hope they would be able to retain all their stars this summer. They were masterful in Ndoye’s case, while they could have arguably gotten more for Sam Beukema or parted ways with John Lucumi instead, as the latter was eager to go. They gambled on some touted prospects (Martin Vitik, Jonathan Rowe, and Ibrahima Sulemana), which is par for the course, but also signed more established players (Nadir Zortea and Torbjorn Heggem). How quickly the newcomers adjust and develop will contribute to determining the outcome of the season, but their infrastructure is sound. They deviated from the past with Ciro Immobile and Federico Bernardeschi, which was a little odd, but they were fliers.

Milan – C

They took the easy route to offset the losses caused by not making the top four by selling their most profitable player early in the summer. They splurged on Ardon Jashari but mostly went for quantity over quality to replace him. Luka Modric, Samuele Ricci, and Adrien Rabiot falling into their lap should be enough to fix their midfield. The same can’t be said for their defense, which could have used a proper investment, even though Koni De Winter is fine, and the attack. They were determined to purchase a purer center-forward than Santiago Gimenez and wound up with an expensive false-nine (Christopher Nkunku). Their coach and front office changed, but they still looked erratic on the transfer market at times. Had they made some calls earlier and arranged better deals, perhaps they could have kept Tijjani Reijnders, who wasn’t chomping at the bit to go.