Evaluating The Transfers of The 'big clubs' : Italian Serie A.

The prolonged 2019/2020 season is finally coming to an end in most countries, so I decided to write about how the big teams in the top five leagues, fared transfer-wise hence this series about completed transfers and how the players have had an impact or who should have been bought instead. This is my opinion on these, if you have an opinion that is contrary, please make use of the comments section. I will be focusing on Juventus, Inter Milan, A.C. Milan, A.S. Roma, Napoli and Lazio.

JUVENTUS : With Cristiano Ronaldo in his second year at Turin, Juve were strong favorites to retain the scudetto(Serie A league title), but their main target was obviously the UEFA Champions League, many believe that was the main reason behind CR7'S transfer. They appointed Maurizio Sarri to replace M. Allegri. Sarri signed Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot on free transfers, Matthijs De Ligt from Ajax, Danilo from Manchester City, Dejan Kulusevski from Atalanta and now Arthur Melo from FC Barcelona. The Old Lady New transfer approach was excellent benefitting from Arsenal and PSG's sluggishness, stealing the centre back revelation from Barcelona's grasp, and also signing more players for the future. In my opinion the Danilo and Cancelo swap was not so convincing Champions League-wise. It was like swapping a Ferrari for a not so super car. But were their transfer genius was evident was in the Arthur Melo transfer, Miralem Pjanic in his 30's for Arthur Melo in his mid 20's was genius, and not to undermine Pjanic's excellent abilities but I think this was a steal. They are gradually chopping off the 'old logs', as a manager I would relish the dilemma choosing from a midfield that includes Bernadeschi, Bentancur, Arthur, Rabiot, Ramsey, Matiudi, Kulusevski. Another area Juve needs to address is their defence most especially the left back position, Alex Sandro needs competition, whenever he is injured and unnatural left backs are used Juve tends to suffer. Raiding Chelsea for either Marcus Alonso or Emerson would be a nice idea will also grooming someone from the youth ranks.

INTER MILAN: The club after my heart in Italy, the glory days of Diego Milito, Wesley Sneidjer, Samuel Eto'o, Javier Zanetti, Maicon seemed to be long gone till Luciano Spaletti and now Antonio Conte. Spaletti performed pretty well after Jose Mourinho, he is the 3rd best manager of Inter Milan since 2009. Antonio Conte, fresh from a sabbatical, was out to redeem his name after his dismissal from Chelsea. He signed Romelu Lukaku from Manchester United, Stefano Sensi on loan with an option to buy, Nico Barella, Christian Eriksen, Victor Moses and Ashley Young in January and more impressively Achaf Hakimi whose goal all but knocked Inter down to the Europa League. Lukaku was an instant hit, scoring on his debut, important goals and assists like against AC Milan, he was looking like the 'hungry beast' Mourinho signed for Manchester United, Ashley Young is a good short term fix to the left wing back position, Eriksen would settle soon enough and join the likes of evergreen Candreva and Co. in supplying Lukaku and Martinez the balls to score, For all Mauro Icardi's achievements, Inter seems to have moved on well and fast too, their early season form was a delight to the fans till the exhausting from working under Conte cut up with them at the vital moments, but not withstand, next season holds much more promise, If they can keep hold of Lautaro Martinez, keep their midfield fit and with Hakimi coming they would be a force to reckon with.

NAPOLI: This season also held much promise for the guys from Naples but it all went wrong due to a lack of reinforcements, Ancelotti got his man in Hirving Lozano but it was not enough to push for the scudetto and coupled with the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti, rumors linking Koulibaly and Fabian Ruiz to transfer elsewhere and the imment departure of Jose Callejon, Napoli look set for a spell with out European football with the likes of Inter, Lazio, Atalanta and AS Roma failing to slack.

A.S. Roma: THE 2019/2020 season was a relatively good one for A.S. Roma, they had some very impressive performances during the season but to be honest they do not have the funds or pull power to sign players to help them secure the scudetto, if they fail to sign Chris Smalling and Mhkitaryan permanently it would mean another building process which shifts the scudetto farther away from them. While I expect them to qualify for Europe next season, they would need to be smart as well as lucky both on and off the pitch.

Lazio: As one of the major entertainers of the league like Atalanta, they should look back on their season and smile and takes courage that the summit is in their sights. Going by their business game by game until Inter Milan started to slip up, they grabbed the opportunity and climbed up to 2nd. If they can keep the core of this current team, then next season would be one to look forward to with relish.

A.C. Milan: The major issue with A.C. Milan in the 2019/2020 season had to come from above, I understand their expectations for the team in which they invested quite a large amount but making knee-jerk decisions does not help matters either, From Club icon Maldini resigning to the premature announcement of a new coach. Although their problems started before all these dramas, it could be narrowed down to the slow gelling process of the new signings like Ante Rebic. It wasn't until after the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the Corona virus break did the team start to reap fruits take for instance their spirited comeback against Champions Juve. Next season holds another rebuilding process for the Rosseneris but ultimately a top four finish for them next season still looks quite impossible.