The Milan club made the most important signings, albeit at low cost, in a session marked by the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus
Milan were the most active club in the Italian winter market, which officially closed on Monday, with the signing of Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic and young English defender Fikayo Tomori of Chelsea., To try to fight to the end for a League title that at the beginning of the campaign seemed impossible.
The Milan club, owned by the American fund Elliott, made the most important signings, although at a low cost, In a session marked by the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus in which Juventus or Inter Milan preferred not to invest.
Winter champions and leaders with a two-point lead over Inter, Milan boosted their squad with Mandzukic, who arrives free, to provide coach Stefano Pioli with an alternative to 39-year-old Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Croatian striker, a former Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Juventus player, is a footballer of character and a winning mentality, who shines in his record a Champions League, four Serie A titles, in addition to having reached the World Cup final with Croatia in 2018, which was won by France.
So far, Mandzukic has played 21 minutes against Atalanta and 18 against Bologna to regain good form after almost ten months of inactivity after leaving Doha in Doha in March 2020. .
Tomori also arrived on loan from Chelsea. He replaces Argentine Mateu Musacchio, who has landed at Lazio, and French midfielder Soualiho Meite, from Turin.
His direct rivals, Juventus and Inter, were alert to possible market opportunities, but ultimately did not alter their squads, already considered up to par to fight for their goals.
Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus decided to wait to sign an additional striker while Inter explored the possibility of an exchange with Roma between Chilean Alexis Sanchez and Bosnian Edin Dzeko, but eventually resigned.
Yes was active in the market Roma, who closed the return of Stephan El Shaarawy, after two seasons in Chinese football with Shanghai Shenhua, and the signing of American Brian Reynolds, defender of just 19 years signed from American MLS FC Dallas.
Atalanta, rivals Real Madrid in the round of 16 of the Champions League, was the protagonist of an illustrious sale, that of the Argentine Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez in Seville.
Captain and leader of the Bergamo team for the past four years, Gomez left Italy after a tough altercation with coach Gian Piero Gasperini in December. There was no way to solve it and the club decided to transfer him to the Spanish team.
To replace him, Atalanta’s sporting management opted for Ukrainian midfielder Victor Kovalenko, as well as reinforcing the right wing with the talented Danish winger Joakim Maelhe, from the Belgian Genk.
There were no signings for Napoli, Granada’s rivals in the last 16 of the Europa League, but there were some illustrious outings.
Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik, who did not count for coach Gennaro Gattuso, left Serie A to sign for Marseille in Ligue 1, while Spaniard Fernando Llorente, who also did not play much role in the first leg of the campaign, he landed at Udinese with his compatriot Gerard Deulofeu.
Cesare Prandelli’s Fiorentina, in which the Argentines Germán Pezzella and Lucas Martínez Quarta play and the Spaniards Borja Valero and José Callejón, made an ambitious bet by incorporating the Russian striker Aleksandr Kokorin, from Spartak Moscow. .
Other market operations in Italy include the signing of Argentine Adolfo Gaich by Benevento and the signing of Paraguayan Antonio Sanabria by Torino, from Real Betis.
In addition, Dutchman Kevin Strootman, a former Roma player, left Marseille to sign for Genoa.
In the last hours of the market, Sassuolo completed an operation for the future, with the signing of the young Colombian right winger Yeferson Pau, 18, from Cortuluá.