Roma’s new owners did not leave any stone unturned this summer in their effort to assemble a more competitive squad than the one of the previous season.
In the off-season, Zdenek Zeman left Pescara after leading them to the Serie A to take the Roma hot-seat, occupied before him by Luis Enrique, the unpopular Spanish novice who proved the critics right and got the boot after one term in the job.
Zeman, 65, has already coached Roma before as he led the side to fourth- and fifth-place finishes in seasons 1997/98 and 1998/99. They last won the Serie A title in 2001.
The dead wood at the Olimpico was removed this summer as the likes of Pizarro (Fiorentina), Heinze (Newell’s Old Boys), Cicinho (Recife), Juan (Internacional), Simplicio (end of contract), Jose Angel (Real Sociedad), Rosi (Parma) and Cassetti (end of contract) were shown the exit door.
Zeman went for quality replacements and the signing of highly-rated striker Mattia Destro (Siena), after a tug-of-war with Inter and Juventus, pays testimony to Roma’s intentions this season.
Italy defender Federico Balza-retti (Palermo) was also on the verge of signing for Paris SG or Napoli before Zeman sanctioned his signing.
Dodo, Castan (Corinthians), Tachtsidis (Verona), Bradley (Chievo) and Piris (San Paolo) are the other additions of note so far.
Surely, they make Roma a formidable side and many now argue that Zeman’s new-look team can really challenge for a top-three placing.
Zeman is renowned for favouring an all-out attacking module. That’s what the fans like most but would that stance be enough for the Giallorossi to reach their objectives?
Like Roma, Napoli have high ambitions for the new season even though they started on a wrong footing after losing the Super Cup to Juventus in Beijing last week.
Napoli lost Ezequiel Lavezzi (PSG) in this transfer window but Goran Pandev is expected to plug the gap left by the Argentine playmaker.
Pandev, formerly of Inter and Lazio, has been in top form in pre-season and scored Napoli’s second goal in Saturday’s 4-2 upset to champions Juventus.
Lorenzo Insigne could also prove to be a great asset to Napoli fol-lowing his move from Pescara last month.
Coach Walter Mazzarri will not rush Insigne into action but with Napoli engaged in the Europa League he will surely get ample time to show his true value.
Contrary to last season, when they got eliminated by Arsenal in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, Udinese are favourites to reach the group stages this time as they were pitted with Sporting Braga, of Portugal.
Udinese have again offloaded some of their best players in the transfer window. This time, it was the turn of Asamoah, Isla (both Juventus) and Handanovic (Inter) to leave the northeasterners.
An excellent scouting system enables Udinese to replace the established players with young and unknown foreigners, most of whom acquired at basement prices and sold later at sky-high prices.
Meanwhile, Lazio have been quite inactive in this close season and the most notable change was the appointment of Vladimir Pet-kovic instead of coach Edy Reja.
Petkovic, formerly of Sion, is a newcomer to the Serie A and, with the exception of the signing of Brazilian midfielder Ederson (Lyon), can practically count on the same group of players that his predecessor led to a creditable fourth place finish last season.