With more than a quarter of the Serie A season already in the books, we can start taking stock of how Italian clubs did in the last transfer window and project which positions they’ll try to bolster in January. Last summer we saw the most expensive transfer ever, two key players leave the second and third place teams to join Juventus, and Inter spend a fortune only to find themselves far behind Milan who didn’t make any significant additions.


 

But as they say “the more things change the more they stay the same’- Juventus is still at top of standings, while only Milan has been the only team who has made significant progress at top of table, it will be interesting to see if they can get in the way of Napoli and Roma landing last two Champions League spots once again. Let’s take a look at each top team individually:  

Juventus: judging by the replies every time Paul Pogba tweets, it looks like Juventus completed the deal of the century by selling him back to Manchester United for a record breaking transfer fee. But Pogba also started last season slowly, which many attributed to the pressure of inheriting the number ten jersey from Tevez- once his new club figures out how to use him he’ll likely get back on track just like he did last season and maybe the deal won’t look so brilliant for the bianconeri.


 

Juventus big summer acquisition Gonzalo Higuain is off to an excellent start, and has scored in the Champions League and the match against his former team Napoli, which should help with his reputation as a big game bottler. Pogba’s replacement Pjanic has played pretty well after Allegri eased him into the starting lineup, while Dani Alves may not have set the league on fire, he has been an upgrade on the Lichtsteiner we saw the last few seasons.

While many, including myself, questioned the need to add Benatia he arrived on a bargain loan with option to buy deal and Chiellini’s frequent injuries as well as fact Allegri is rotating Barzagli more should ensure Rugani also gets frequent playing time in second half of the season.

 

Juventus will likely look to reach an agreement with Zenit to have Witsel arrive in January, if not they will sign him on a free transfer to have him join next season. The bianconeri will also likely look for another striker to bring depth, especially since Pjaca has struggled with injuries- in previous Januaries they have signed Anelka and Borriello so not out of question they find someone with a similar profile.


 

Napoli: had Milik not suffered a serious injury a few weeks ago, it would be easy to say the partenopei had an amazing summer transfer window- but now their lack of depth up front has reared its ugly head. Milik scored 7 goals in his first 9 matches in all competitions, signing him for a third of Higuain’s exit clause was a brilliant move especially when you consider he’s 6 years younger than the Pipita.

 

On paper, Gabbiadini looked like a very adequate back up- he had performed well in a part time role and clubs had offered around 30 million euro to sign him in the summer. He finally got his best chance to prove he could be the leading man on a contender, I say best since he was replacing Milik on a team that featured an Callejon, Hamsik, Insigne and Mertens  as well as an offensive minded manager in Sarri. But so far the results for Gabbiadini have been pretty poor.
 

While Napoli failed to get enough quality depth of upfront, they vastly improved their backup midfielders. The starting trio of Hamsik/Allan/Jorginho ran out of gas by end of last season, and both Zielinski and Diawara have lived up to the hype when given chances. On defense, new addition Nikola Maksimovic has played himself into form after missing the end of summer preparation at Torino, while the jury is still out on centre back Tonelli who is recovering from an injury.

 

Considering that Napoli is a lock to qualify out of the group stage of the Champions League, they maybe more willing to invest in January. The partenopei will look at defence since Ghoulam and Koulibaly will play in the Africa Cup and could exercise their option on Atalanta right back Andrea Conti, it’s also possible sporting director Giuntoli restarts the talks with Genoa for striker Pavoletti.
 

Milan: the rossoneri are the most improved team in the standings despite fact not one of their new additions has made a substantial contribution. Lapadula, Pasalic, Vangioni, Mati Fernandez and Sosa have struggled to find playing time while Gomez is now the backup to the rejuvenated Paletta (there were however some encouraging signs from Pasalic on Sunday). On the bright side Milan is the most likely Serie A team to make a big splash in the January window because of the impending sale to the Chinese investors.  

It will be interesting to see what types of targets Milan pursues assuming the sale is completed in time. Clearly the midfield is the area that needs the most work- will they settle for someone like Badelj or go big and sign Fabregas? Milan could also try to bring back Vrsaljko to Serie A, the former Sassuolo right back has struggled to establish himself at Atletico Madrid. 

 

Inter: net of sales, no team in Italy spent more than the nerazzurri last summer. Inter kept all of their best players (Handanovic, Icardi, Miranda, Perisic) and made three expensive additions in Candreva, Joao Mario and Gabigol. While the former Lazio winger and Portoguese midfielder have performed well, Gabigol has struggled to adapt which is somewhat understandable considering that he didn’t participate in Inter’s summer retreat and also had an odd vacation schedule after playing in the Olympics.

 

In retrospect, Inter’s biggest mistake of the summer was bringing in De Boer, who didn’t speak Italian and wasn’t familiar with the current Serie A, just two weeks before the season started- the Dutch manager wasn’t set up to succeed from jump street and then also had to deal with the Icardi drama.
 

Inter will likely bring in an Italian manager (someone like Pioli, Mandorlini or Guidolin) who knows the league to get through the season, and try to further bolster the defense and midfield. The narazzurri lack a competent backup to Murillo and Miranda, and because he’s had to battle injuries Ansaldi hasn’t been an upgrade at the wingback position (as a matter a fact Laxalt who stayed at Genoa as part of the Ansaldi deal has performed much better than the Argentine).  

Roma: can the giallorossi repeat their stellar last January transfer window? Last winter Sabatini landed El Shaarawy and Perotti for less than 30 million combined, both players were instrumental in helping the team finish third but the chain smoking director wasn’t able to keep the trend going in the summer transfer window. 

With the exception of a stretch of good games by Bruno Peres and Fazio, all of the additions to the defence (Juan Jesus, Vermaelen and Emerson) have struggled. Roma should get some relief once Mario Rui and Florenzi return from their ACL injuries. New sporting director Frederic Massara will likely be tasked with finding more wingbacks in his first transfer window running the club’s mercato which would allow Florenzi to move back to the midfield on a permanent basis once he’s healthy.

 

Quick Hits:  while Sassuolo rightfully gets praised a lot for their way they handle their business, the sale of Nicola Sansone to Villareal (and not even for a substantial transfer fee) has really come back to bite them once Berardi suffered an injury. Lazio on the other hand hit a home run with Ciro Immobile and their new center back Bastos looked promising before suffering an injury- the biancocelesti could look to bolster their squad in January should they stay in the race for a Champions League spot. Fiorentina found a gem in Mexican defender Carlos Salcedo and Carlos Sanchez has brought stability to their midfield. 
 

See you next Tuesday for another round of transfer talk…

David Amoyal is the manager of the English page on Gianluca Di Marzio's website where he also writes weekly articles. David covers transfer news for ESPN, and has appeared on numerous radio shows on Sirius XM in the US as well as TalkSport in the UK. David is the former editor in chief of Vavel USA and his articles have been featured in many sites around the world. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidAmoyal