ITALY: Serie A transfer round-up

This year the Serie A clubs are trying to make the most they can out of this window, with teams such as AC Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus, Inter and Lazio all making early signings to try and get a head start of other teams.

AC Milan so far brought in Andrea Poli from Sampdoria for 6.5million and Cristian Zapata from Villarreal for 5million. But this window is certainly not over for AC Milan, with reported interest in CSKA Moscow’s play-maker Keisuke Honda and they seem they’re after a centre-back.

Fiorentina have been of the busiest teams this summer with having made no less than six signings already. With the most notable one being the signing of the German striker Mario Gomez from the Champions league winners Bayern Munich for a reported fee of 16million. Gomez is not the only big-name signing for the La Viola this summer with the signings of Massimo Ambrosini on a free transfer from Milan, and Joaquin from Malaga for 2million. Attacker Oleksandr Iakovenko, goal-keeper Gustavo Munua and the Spanish left-back Marcos Alonso all have joined Fiorentina on a free, to be part of the La Viola’s busy summer.

Inter too have had a busy summer so far, with already having made six signings. Goal-keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo joined Inter on a free from Lazio. Inter signed the young Argentinian forward Mauro Icardi from Sampdoria for an undisclosed fee. Uruguayan midfielder Diego Laxalt signed for Inter for a 2.3million fee from Defensor Sporting. Napoli’s defender Hugo Campagnaro joined Inter on a free, with Ruben Botta and Marco Andreolli too, joining inter on a free.

Juventus made one of the biggest signings of the Serie A so far, with the signing of the Argentinian forward Carlos Tevez from Manchester City for a reported fee of 12million. Fernando Llorente joined Juventus on a free from Athletic Bilbao, to partner Tevez in the Old Lady attack. Federico Peluso joined Juventus from Atalanta for 5million.

Lazio signed the Argentinian play-maker Lucas Biglia from Anderlecht for 5.5million, the highly-rated Brazilian midfielder Felipe Anderson from Santos for a reported fee of 8million and Diego Novaretti from Toluca on a free transfer.

Manager Rafael Benitez began his reign at Napoli with two very good signings so far, With Jose Callejon joining Napoli from Real Madrid for 10million and Dries Mertens from PSV for 9.5million. Their rivals Roma only bought one player so far with the signing of Udinese’s centre-back Mehdi Benatia.

Some more notable signings – Italian striker Luca Toni joined Hellas Verona from Fiorentina on a free, Antonio Cassano joined Parma for an undisclosed fee. The talented young attacker Manolo Gabbiadini joined Sampdoria from Juventus on a co-ownership. Francesco Acerbi joined Sassuolo from Genoa for 3.5million.