EURO BITES: Serie A - January transfer movement begins, will Ilkay Gundogan fill Andrea Pirlo's shoes? Fiorentina players give adoring fans a heart

Salvatore Avallone rounds-up the latest news from Italy as the top six Serie A teams set their sights on January’s transfer market.

INTER TRAINS IN QATAR

Inter was the only Italian team to train away during the winter break as they traveled to Doha and played a friendly against Paris Saint Germain on December 30th. Inter coach Roberto Mancini played it to the hilt, with all his top players on the field (with the exception of the South American players who had arrived the day before), but the game was won by PSG with a goal by Jean-Kevin Augustin at the end of the first-half. Inter’s management took the opportunity to discuss the possible acquisition of Argentine striker Ezequiel Lavezzi from PSG. Lavezzi is one of Mancini’s targets in the January transfer market.

NAPOLI REBOOTS DURING BREAK

Although they finished 2015 with an important win against Atalanta, Napoli seemed tired before the winter break. After their surge from the middle of the Serie A table to third place in the standings, the team clearly needed to recharge their batteries. Coach Maurizio Sarri gave his players a week of break, after which he subjected them to two sessions a day of training. The first match of the new year will be Napoli-Torino clash and the coach almost certainly will confirm his 4-3-3 formation with the same players. In the transfer market, Napoli is looking to sell Juan Camilo Zuniga, Jonathan de Guzman, Henrique and goalkeeper Rafael and hopes to buy the young Portuguese midfielder André Filipe Tavares Gomes from Valencia.

AS ROMA PLAYERS BOUNCE BACK FROM INJURIES

Roma was back to work on Tuesday and coach Rudi Garcia put his players immediately to the test with double sessions of training. The return for Garcia coincided with some good news on the injury front with Vasilis Torosidis and Francesco Totti beginning training with the rest of the team. While the Greek defender will be able to play in Wednesday’s match against Chievo, Totti is still a question mark as he is coming back from almost three months out. Other good news is the recovery of midfielder Kevin Strootman, who after three surgeries and almost two years off the pitch will most probably return in February. Roma made official the loan of Juan Iturbe to Bournemouth and have their sights on Genoa striker Diego Perotti.

ALL JUVENTUS NEEDS IS A MIDFIELD PLAYMAKER

Before the winter break, Juventus completed a masterpiece of seven consecutive victories to move into fourth place, only three points behind Serie A leader Inter, and demonstrate that once again it is a serious contender for the league title. The Bianconeri have the most complete group of players of any team in the Serie A, missing only a top midfield playmaker to cover the role of Andrea Pirlo, who departed to New York City last summer. In fact, for the January transfer window Juventus has only one objective – the acquisition of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, a player that coach Massimiliano Allegri thinks could fill Pirlo’s shoes. An offer from Juventus of €30 million was rejected by the German team, but negotiations will continue.

MILAN TRIES TO REVAMP AFTER DISAPPOINTING SEASON

Milan’s performance this season has disappointed both fans and president Silvio Berlusconi. Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has changed both formation and players numerous times, to no effect and they are a team that needs to acquire players who can make a difference. But the rule established by CEO Adriano Galliani dictates that before acquiring a player they need to sell another. There are seven players that Milan will try to sell or loan: Cristian Zapata, Alessio Cerci, Nigel De Jong, Rodrigo Ely, Diego Lopez, Antonio Nocerino and José Mauri. Milan is also counting on the return of Mario Balotelli after his surgery in the middle of November. Balotelli hopes that 2016 will be better than last year, and that he will secure a place on the Milan team as well as on the national team ahead of Euro 2016 in France.

FIORENTINA PLAYERS SHOW LOVE FOR FANS

Second-placed Fiorentina returned to training last Monday to prepare for Wednesday’s away match against Palermo. In honour of fans who have shown enthusiastic support in this successful season, Fiorentina management opened the doors of the Florentine stadium, where the players made the formation of a heart on the pitch. The new year opened with the good news that Jakub Blaszczykowski has overcome the injury he suffered in mid-November and is ready to play again on the right wing. In the transfer market, the main objective of Fiorentina is defender Lisandro Lopez of Benfica, while in attack the departure of Giuseppe Rossi is looking probable, with Lucas Ocampos of Marseille a likely replacement.