Italy is far from the English Premier League regarding TV contracts and money flow in general. The same situation is with the player market – Chelsea alone has spent more than the top 2 spenders in Serie A this summer. But looking at the top of Serie A spenders will be interesting.
Juventus (€102.4 million)
The Old Lady are desperate to reclaim the league title, which they could lose for the third time in a row. In addition, a couple of crucial central defenders, De Ligt and Chiellini, as well as forward Paulo Dybala, have left the club.
The Turin team has acquired central defender Bremer from Torino for 41 million to compensate for the loss. Federico Chiesa (40m) was acquired on the right wing, Filip Kostic (12m) on the left and Cambiaso on the left back. The last one was loaned to Bologna.
That’s not even including the transfers of Angel Di Maria and Paul Pogba, who have been key acquisitions for Juventus. Fortunately for the Bianconeri, the Frenchman and the Argentine are free agents.
Atalanta (€98 million)
The previous season was a natural disaster for Atalanta, with injuries to their leaders and an 8th-place finish. They brought in left-winger Ademola Lookman (Gasperini is trying him in different positions) and Brandon Soppy, a talented right-back. However, the most money was spent on Jeremie Boga (€22m), midfielder Ederson (€21m), centre-back Merih Demiral (€20m) and Rasmus Heylund (€17m).
Each of the recruits has made several appearances for Atalanta. Based on the first matchdays’ results, the Atalanta summer campaign has been successful.
Napoli (€68.05 million)
The Neapolitans have improved their team by adding a centre-back to their squad and filling the vacant spots on the left wing and full-back, which were underwhelming areas. Khvicha is adapting to the team concept successfully and scoring surprisingly well (most likely due to the attacking orientation of the whole team). Anguissa, the holding midfielder, was excellent against Lazio, assisting in the opposition’s half and dropping in front of a couple of centre-backs to provide them with attacking options. Min-Jae played in all of the Italian big club’s matches from whistle to whistle.
Milan (€48.2 million)
The Rossoneri are not in a hurry to blow up the transfer market with spending – but they are consistent and accurate. Sergio Dest from Barcelona is on loan. Junior Messias and Alessandro Florenzi, who joined AC Milan by the same route a year earlier, have now been bought out by Crotone and Roma for 4.5m and 2.7m, respectively. The Italians picked up Malik Thiaw from Schalke for not much more than the market price tag (7m for 6, according to Transfermarkt).
The primary acquisition has been made in the attacking midfielder area – Charles De Ketelaere will now play for AC Milan, at the cost of around 32 million.
Sassuolo (€48 million)
The 11th team in last season’s tournament looked to upgrade and brought in nine new players: Andrea Pinamonti and Janis Antiste on loan, left winger Ciervo (2m), centre-forward Ceide for 3m, Harroui in central midfield (3m). The top scorer, though, is Matthijs Henriques, Kristian Thorstvedt, Armand Laurienté and Agustín Álvarez, who accounted for almost 40 million euros together.
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