New season in Italy: 2013-14 team-by-team guide

Coach Stefano Colantuono

Key arrivals Constantin Nica (Dinamo Bucharest, Rom)

Key departures none

Did well to stay up last term once again, despite a two-point penalty for involvement in match fixing.  The good news is that Argentinian striker German Denis is still there; the bad news is that compatriot Maxi Moralez might leave.

Coach Stefano Pioli

Key arrivals Denis Alibec (Internazionale, on loan), Rolando Bianchi (Torino), Abdallah Yaisien (Paris Saint-Germain, Fra)

Key departures none

Another difficult season looks on the cards, particularly as they can no longer rely on the goals of on-loan Alberto Gilardino.

Coach Ivo Pulga

Key arrivals Danilo Avelar (Karpaty Lviv, Ukr), Marios Ikonomou (PAS Giannina, Gre)

Key departures none

Defied the critics and beat the drop in a season when it felt as if they changed stadium venue on a weekly basis. Could struggle again.

Coach Rolando Maran

Key arrivals Federico Freire (Velez Sarsfield, Arg), Norbert Gyomber (Banska Bystrica, Slk), Sebastian Leto (Panathinaikos, Gre), Fabian Monzon (Lyon, Fra), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Roma)

Key departures none

Had a good campaign last time out and should manage to stay up comfortably again.

Coach Giuseppe Sannino

Key arrivals Dejan Lazarevic (Genoa), Yohan Tavares (Standard Liege, Blg)
Key departures Marco Andreolli (Internazionale), Kamil Vacek (Sparta Prague, CzR, on loan)

Did well despite limited means and new coach Sannino has promised they will stay up again.

Fiorentina

Coach Vincenzo Montella

Key arrivals Marcos Alonso
(Bolton Wanderers, Eng), Massimo Ambrosini (Milan), Marko Bakic (Torino), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich, Ger), Joaquin (Malaga, Spa), Gustavo Munua (Levante, Spa), Oleksandr Yakovenko (Anderlecht, Blg)

Key departures Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad, Spa), Luca Toni (Verona)

Back to form last term and only narrowly missed out on the Champions League. Montella, arguably coach of the year last season, remains but Stevan Jovetic seems certain to leave.

Coach Fabio Liverani

Key arrivals none

Key departures none

Avoided the drop by the narrowest of margins and new boss Liverani faces a tough task.

Coach Walter Mazzarri
Key arrivals Marco Andreolli (Chievo), Ishak Belfodil (Parma), Ruben Botta (Tigre, Arg), Hugo Campagnaro (Napoli), Mauro Icardi (Sampdoria), Diego Laxalt (Defensor, Uru),

Key departures Antonio Cassano (Parma)

A season of rebuilding looks certain. But will owner Massimo Moratti sell to Indonesian tycoon Erik Thohir?

Coach Antonio Conte

Key arrivals Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao, Spa), Angelo Ogbonna (Torino), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, Eng)

Key departures Emanuele Giaccherini (Sunderland, Eng)

They will start as Serie A favourites, but Conte may save his best efforts for the Champions League as last season’s emphatic quarter-final elimination by champions Bayern Munich still hurts.

Coach Vladimir Petkovic
Key arrivals Felipe Anderson (Santos, Bra), Lucas Biglia (Anderlecht, Blg), Josip Elez (Hajduk Split, Cro), Diego Novaretti (Toluca, Mex), Brayan Perea (Deportivo Cali, Col), Vinicius (Cruzeiro, Bra)

Key departures Modibo Diakite (Sunderland, Eng), Pasquale Foggia (Dubai, UAE)

Plenty of new faces, but Petkovic will find it hard to improve on last season – after all, it doesn’t get much better than beating Roma in the Italian Cup Final.

Coach Davide Nicola

Key arrivals Marco Benassi (Internazionale, on loan), Francesco Bardi (Internazionale, on loan), Cristiano Piccini (Fiorentina, on loan)

Key departures Simone Salviato (Novara)

Three years after relegation, Livorno are back in Serie A. While coach Nicola did well to get them there, he will do even better to keep them there.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri

Key arrivals Andrea Poli (Sampdoria, on loan), Jherson Vergara (Deportes Quindio, Col), Cristian Zapata (Villarreal, Spa)

Key departures Massimo Ambrosini (Fiorentina), Bartosz Salamon (Sampdoria, on loan), Taye Taiwo (Bursaspor, Tur), Mario Yepes (released)

With Mario Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy up front, Milan look more competitive than 12 months ago.

Coach Rafael Benitez

Key arrivals Pablo Armero (Udinese), Jose Callejon (Real Madrid, Spa), Dries Mertens (PSV), Rafael (Santos, Bra)

Key departures Hugo Campagnaro (Internazionale), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain, Fra), Omar
El Kaddouri (Torino, on loan), Antonio Rosati (Sassuolo, on loan)

Continuing to sell their best players is a problem for Benitez.

Parma

Coach Roberto Donadoni

Key arrivals Terry Antonis (Sydney, Aus), Soufiane Bidaoui (Lierse, Blg), Antonio Cassano (Internazionale), Felipe (Fiorentina), Filip Jankovic (Red Star Belgrade, Ser), Pedro Mendes (Sporting Lisbon, Por), Tomislav Saric (Inter Zapresic, Cro)
Key Departures Ishak Belfodil (Internazionale)

Even with Cassano and Mendes on board, it will be hard to make their mark in Serie A.

Coach Rudi Garcia
Key arrivals Mehdi Benatia (Udinese), Tin Jedvaj (Dinamo Zagreb, Cro), Maicon (Manchester City, Eng), Kevin Strootman (PSV, Hol)

Key departures Jose Angel (Real Sociedad, Spa, on loan), Maarten Stekelenburg (Fulham, Eng), Simone Perrotta (retired), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Catania)

Garcia has inherited a poisoned chalice which will be more difficult
if the club sells Daniele De Rossi.

Coach Delio Rossi
Key arrivals Manolo Gabbiadini (Juventus), Bartosz Salamon (Milan, on loan), Pawel Wszolek (Polonia Warsaw, Pol)
Key departures Mauro Icardi (Internazionale), Andrea Poli (Milan, on loan)

They did well to stay up last term following a one-point sanction and Rossi’s men will do well to repeat the feat this time.

Sassuolo

Coach Eusebio Di Francesco

Key arrivals Francesco Acerbi (Genoa), Marius Alexe (Dinamo Bucharest, Rom, on loan), Jasmin Kurtic (Palermo), Antonio Rosati (Napoli, on loan), Simone Zaza (Sampdoria)

Key departures Gennaro Troianiello (Palermo)

With a population of just 42,000, the smallest town ever to boast
a Serie A club will use Reggiana’s Stadio Del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia this season.

Torino

Coach Giampiero Ventura

Key arrivals Nicola Bellomo (Bari), Cesare Bovo (Genoa), Omar El Kaddouri (Napoli, on loan), Alexander Farnerud (Young Boys, Swi), Ciro Immobile (Genoa), Emiliano Moretti (Genoa), Daniele Padelli (Udinese)

Key departures Rolando Bianchi (Bologna), Angelo Ogbonna (Juventus)

Just staying up again will do very nicely, especially given the departure of Ogbonna.

Coach Francesco Guidolin

Key arrivals Igor Bubnjic (Slaven Belupo, Cro), Bruno Fernandes (Novara), Jadson (Botafogo, Bra), Ivan Kelava (Dinamo Zagreb, Cro), Frano Mlinar (Inter Zapresic, Cro), Silvan Widmer (Granada, Spa)
Key departures Pablo Armero (Napoli), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), Daniele Padelli (Torino)

Very active in the transfer market, but arguably their best business in the summer was the retention of coach Guidolin.

Coach Andrea Mandorlini

Key arrivals Ezequiel Cirigliano (River Plate, Arg, on loan), Massimo Donati (Palermo), Luca Toni (Fiorentina)

Key Departures none

After 11 years in the second
and third tiers, the 1985 Serie A champions make a welcome return and could do best of the three promoted clubs.