5 Most Sensational Serie a Transfers of All Time

The Italian men's soccer season is over, and it's time for the country's other sporting obsession—transfer season.

The speculation over what goes on in the boardrooms of the big clubs is always a topic of conversation, but comes to a fever pitch when there are no games to think about and the buying and selling is the only news around.

 The country's clubs have delivered on a lot of that buzz, too. In fact, Italian teams have set the record for transfer fees 18 times.

Some transfers are obviously bigger than others, so which of the countless deals in Italy justified all the constant obsession?

For inclusion on this list, an Italian team must have been the buyer of the player in question, not the seller (or it must have been a swap deal).  Last year's sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva was certainly sensational, but it wasn't exactly beneficial to AC Milan or the league itself.

This article looks at deals that both moved the needle with the press and made the league better.

So which five deals were the perfect match of those criteria?  Read on to find out.

Juve Makes Buffon World's Most Expensive Goalkeeper

In the six years since he started playing on their first team, Gianluigi Buffon had quickly risen through the ranks at Parma and firmly placed himself in the conversation of the best goalkeepers in the world.

He led Parma to victory in the UEFA Cup, Coppa Italia in 1998-99 and in the following Supercoppa.  Only a hand injury prevented him from starting for Italy in the European Championships the next year.  His success caught the eye of many teams, and after Edwin Van der Sar had a poor season in 2000-01, Juventus sent the Dutchman to Fulham and opened their pocketbooks to sign Buffon.

What makes the headlines here is the massive nature of the fee—100 billion lire, or the equivalent of €54.2 million as reported by Goal.com.  It remains the biggest transfer fee ever for a goalkeeper.  No other keeper has even cost a team half that.

Needless to say, the deal worked out well for Juve.  Buffon has been their No.1 keeper for 12 years, stuck with the team through its post-Calciopoli relegation and has anchored the defense that has delivered back-to-back league titles for Antonio Conte's Juve.

Parma, on the other hand, ended up going from being a consistent player in Europe to bankruptcy after the financial scandal that rocked owners Parmalat in the early years of the century and are now working their way back towards the top of the standings.

Inter Pulls in Eto'o for Ibra

In 2009, Inter Milan and Barcelona were both at the top of their games.  Barca had just won the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League, and Inter had won the fourth of what would be five consecutive scudetti.

In July of '09, as Inter was embarking on the preseason World Football Challenge tour in the US and Barca was gearing up for its own preseason preparations, word got out that the two teams were about ready to swap strikers.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had just scored 29 goals in all competitions for Inter, and Samuel Eto'o was coming off a 30-goal year in La Liga for Barca, scoring 36 overall.

On July 17, it was announced that an agreement between the two clubs had been reached and was awaiting personal terms on the players involved.  Ten days later, the deal was official—Ibrahimovic would move to Barca in exchange for Eto'o and €46 million.

The media blew up.  Disgraced former Juventus director Luciano Moggi, who insists on thrusting forth his opinion despite his lifetime ban from the game, was especially critical of the move.

"Inter have committed suicide by selling Ibrahimovic," the former personnel man told Ilsussidiario.net, according to goal.com.  He further criticized Eto'o, saying he was "a great player, but he is a player that does well when the team is doing well."

Eto'o paired well with Diego Milito in his first season at Inter as the nerazzurri won the Treble, and when the Argentine's form fell off the face of the earth the next year, Eto'o proved Moggi wrong.  He scored 37 goals with 15 assists and led a scuffling team to second place in the league as well as the Champions League quarterfinal and a defense of the Coppa Italia title.

Ibrahimovic spent a solitary season at Barca, winning the La Liga title and the FIFA Club World Cup and scoring 21 times in all competitions despite feuding with coach Pep Guardiola.

Moratti Breaks Transfer Record for Ronaldo

Brazilian superstar Ronaldo scored 47 goals in 51 games in 1996-97 with Barcelona, but in spite of his scoring binge, questions were raised about his commitment to the club when he left the team with three games to go to represent Brazil in the Copa America.  

His agents torpedoed a potential 10-year contract extension later that year, as his relationship with Barca went south, according to ESPNFC.com.

Massimo Moratti, having given thought to acquiring Ronaldo from PSV Eindhoven a year earlier, would not lose his man this time.  After a brief scuffle over money that was arbitrated by FIFA, he broke the transfer fee record to sign the player, paying out 19 million British pounds.  The reigning FIFA World Player of the Year—and the consensus best player in the world—belonged to Inter.

Ronaldo won the UEFA Cup in his first year with the team and won World Player of the Year for the second consecutive time.  The rest of his time at the San Siro, however, was beset by knee injuries.  He played only seven games in 1999-00 and missed the entire 2000-01 season.  He wasn't back at full strength until 2002, when he starred at the World Cup and used that success to force a move to Real Madrid.

Maradona Comes to Napoli

After two tempestuous seasons with Barcelona (them again), Argentine legend Diego Maradona was ready for a move.  

Two years after breaking the transfer fee record in his move to Barca, Maradona did it again in a surprise move to Napoli.

Napoli had only been one point and two table places away from relegation the previous season, but improved by seven points the next year (a good number in what was then a 16-team league).  

Napoli jumped to third the next season and culminated their rocket up the table in 1986-87 with their first-ever title, with Maradona scoring 10 goals.  The club won their only other scudetto three years later.

It wasn't all roses for Maradona, however, as Napoli fined him for missing practices and matches towards the end of his tenure. He also faced accusations of cocaine trafficking and association with the Camorra (Neapolitan mafia).

Still, Maradona's No. 10 shirt has been retired by the club in recognition of his services and he remains a legend in the city.

Riots over Baggio

Rare is the transfer that gets the response that Roberto Baggio's move from Fiorentina to Juventus.

The deal came out of nowhere, a midnight arrangement for a then-record $12 million.  Fiorentina fans rioted for two days, resulting in 50 injuries.  Baggio was upset over being forced to leave the club he had been with for five years and refused to wear the Juve scarf presented to him upon his arrival in Turin.

Further controversy came when Baggio refused to take a penalty kick in his first match against his old club.  The kick was missed, and Baggio was hauled off several minutes later.  As he marched to the locker room, a fan threw a Fiorentina scarf in front of him.  He picked it up without stopping and carried it into the locker room, setting off more media frenzy.

Baggio helped Juve to a league-cup double in 1994-95—his last season with the club—and won the UEFA Cup with the team in 1992-93.  Unfortunately, his run with the bianconeri was crippled by injury and he left the team for Milan following the team's scudetto-winning year.

 He bounced between both Milan teams and Bologna before finishing his career with Brescia.