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Gazetta dello Sport, having nothing much else to do during the international break, has weighed in on the signings of the summer -- and has come down hard on what it considers to be the clubs' failures.
Napoli weren't judged too harshly -- probably because this summer didn't bring, say, the second coming of Emanuele Calaiò, or herald the arrival of Edu Vargas -- but they did have two players on the Top list. No surprises here: José Callejón and Gonzalo Higuaín. Two former partenopei also made the list: Morgan De Sanctis and Hugo Campagnaro.
For the most part, it's difficult to argue with the GdS top picks, although their fitting them into a XI formation means these aren't necessarily the best of the best. The inclusion of Kakà, however, is curious. Is it for sentimental reasons? Come on. The man was hurt for a month, has started just four Serie A games and has scored one goal. Is he a top signing because he's the only thing keeping AC Milan fans around these days?
As for the flops, well...hmm. Inter Milan signing Wallace was just foolish, because Walter Mazzarri doesn't play kids. Ishak Belfodil kind of falls into the same category. Ezequiel Schelotto made that list of players' most over-rated players, so of course he belongs here. And who hasn't laughed at the rossoneri for signing Alessandro Matri?
But it seems there must be bigger flops than what GdS have set out. I haven't watched Genoa in full more than a few times, but is Francesco Lodi really one of the worst signings of the summer? And the inclusion of Adem Ljajic is just odd. It seems like AS Roma didn't bring him on as anything more than an impact sub, so to say he's a "flop" despite three goals in nine appearances...it just seems like there's got to be a worse player brought in at the window.
So I thought it would be fun to do our own version of Gazzetta's Tops and Flops. Some can stay the same -- for instance, it's difficult to argue that Juventus landing Carlos Tévez doesn't belong in the "best of" category -- but there's got to be room for improvement in this list. Put it in the comments. Who do you think has made the biggest impact since joining up with a Serie A side this summer? Who has utterly failed? And why?
Add your contributions and we'll compile our own lists, to be published later in the week.
Top XI: De Sanctis (Roma); Maicon (Roma), Benatia (Roma), Campagnaro (Inter), Vrsaljko (Genoa); Callejon (Napoli), Strootman (Roma), Kaka (Milan), Gervinho (Roma); Tevez (Juventus), Higuain (Napoli).
Flop XI: Padelli (Torino); Wallace (Inter), Felipe (Parma), Novaretti (Lazio), Ziegler (Sassuolo); Schelotto (Sassuolo), Lodi (Genoa), Biglia (Lazio); Belfodil (Inter), Matri (Milan), Ljajic (Roma).