Grading the Top Italian Serie a Teams on Their Transfer Activity so Far

It has been a busy summer in Serie A's transfer window, with plenty of big-money signings strengthening sides desperate to make that next stage in the club's progression.

The upper echelons of the league have even more pressure to deliver high profile signings to appease the fans and force their way into the top three, which provides Champions League football.

Loans, swaps and co-ownership deals made up the bulk of the activity among the clubs in Italy.

While Juventus may be clear favourites for the title, the race for the Champions League could be fascinating with as many as six sides in the shakeup.

Here I examine how the biggest clubs in Italy have fared this summer.

All figures for transfer deals were taken from Transfermarkt.

Juventus: A

How do you improve on back-to-back scudetti?

Juventus appear to have become even more formidable by adding two star strikers Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente, upgrading the Old Lady's attack, which often frustrated last season.

Still possessing the best squad in the league, Juve's next challenge will be to conquer Europe and a more clinical front line will give them a better chance of surpassing the quarter-final stage of this year's tournament.

Also, Angelo Ogbonna arrived from Torino. He offers great cover across the back line and represents the future stalwart of the Bianconeri defence.

Antonio Conte might still crave a more natural fit at left midfield, although Kwadwo Asamoah can certainly perform this role admirably.

Juve strengthened significantly with two of the best strikers in Europe over the past three seasons and did so with a net spend of less than £10 million.

Ins: Tevez (Manchester City, £7.92m),  Llorente (Athletic Bilbao, free), Ogbonna (Torino, £11.44m), Simone Zaza (Sampdoria, £3.08m), Elvis Kabashi (Empoli, £1.58m)

Outs: Felipe Melo (Galatasaray, £3.3m), Emanuele Giaccherini (Sunderland, £6.6m), Alberto Masi (Ternana, £1.76m), Zaza (Sassuolo, £2.2m), Manolo Gabbiadini (Sampdoria, £4.84m), Nicolas Anelka (West Brom, free), Vincenzo Iaquinta (released).

Net spend: -£9.85m

Napoli: B

Napoli enter a new era under Aurelio De Laurentiis, with Walter Mazzarri departing the club to take over at Inter and Rafael Benitez taking over the reigns.

The Partenopei have spent superbly, even if they did lose their best player, Edinson Cavani.

The sale of El Matador prevents Napoli from achieving any more than a B grade, but the way that they have spent the fee received by PSG has been incredible.

Gonzalo Higuain is a sound replacement and there have been plenty of supporting attackers arriving to join the existing talent of Marek Hamsik, Lorenzo Insigne and Goran Pandev.

Benitez will be confident of replicating the second place finish last term and the Azzurri could be dark horses for the scudetto.

Ins: Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid, £32.56m),  Jose Maria Callejon (Real Madrid, £8.36m), Dries Mertens (PSV, £8.54m), Pablo Armero (Udinese, £3.52m), Josip Radosevic (Hadjuk, £0.88m), Emanuele Calaio (Siena, £1.1m), Rafael (Santos, £4.4m), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid, £10.56m), Jose Reina (Liverpool, loan).

Outs: Hugo Campagnaro (Inter, free), Luca Cigarini (Atalanta, £1.94m), Gianluca Grava (retired), Cavani (PSG, £56.76m), Morgan De Sanctis (Roma, £0.44m), Alessandro Gamberini (Genoa, undisclosed).

Net spend: -£10.78m

Milan: C-

It has been a frustrating summer for Milan, failing to establish themselves in the market after sneaking into the Champions League on the final day of last season.

The Rossoneri still have time, but as it stands, it has been a dreadful mercato by the Diavoli, barely improving at all.

The loss of former capitano Massimo Ambrosini will be more costly than most might envisage, his experience was vital to raising the level of the side in the big games—Barcelona at home certainly springs to mind.

Andrea Poli is a tidy acquisition, but hardly a player capable of revolutionising an ever-stagnant midfield.

More work needs to be done by Adriano Galliani if Milan are to fend off competition from the likes of Fiorentina for that much coveted third place.

Ins: Poli (Sampdoria, £2.64m),  Cristian Zapata (Villarreal, £5.28m), Jherson Vergara (Quindio, £1.76m), Riccardo Saponara (Empoli, £3.52m), Matias Silvestre (Inter, £0.88m)

Outs: Bartosz Salamon (Sampdoria, £1.5m), Mario Yepes (Atalanta, free), Mathieu Flamini (released), Taye Taiwo (Bursaspor, free), Rodney Strasser (Genoa, £3.52m), Bojan Krkic (Roma, end of loan).

Net spend: -£9.06m

Fiorentina: B+

Fiorentina were in a similar boat to Napoli this summer. They lost their best player, Stevan Jovetic, but had significant funds to invest in the market.

The Viola have bought smartly and although one could argue Napoli are better than last year, it is almost certain that Vincenzo Montella's side are superior.

Despite losing their Montenegrin star, Fiorentina did not just invest in the attack to replace the 23-year-old, but in other areas of the side to make the team better overall.

Ins: Juan Cuadrado (Udinese, £4.4m),  Olek Iakovenko (Anderlecht, free), Marcos Alonso (Bolton, free), Massimo Ambrosini (Milan, free), Joaquin (Malaga, £1.76m), Gustavo Munua (Levante, free), Mario Gomez (£13.64m), Josip Ilicic (Palermo, £7.92m)

Outs: Luca Toni (Hellas, free), Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad, £2.64m), Jovetic (Manchester City, £22.88m).

Net spend: -£2.17m

Roma: D

Roma have had a mixed summer in the market and their changing technical staff.

Rudi Garcia arrives from Lille to manage the club and Franco Baldini departs as director of sport.

The Giallorossi lost their best talent in Marquinhos; who left the capital after just a year, for Paris and Ligue 1.

Erik Lamela is rumoured to be the next prodigious talent to leave the Lupi, according to the Daily Star.

Despite receiving a huge amount in transfer fees this summer, Roma have yet to reinvest all of that sum on new players, which has left a sour taste amongst fans.

There is a significantly weaker playing squad, but a superior coach in the dug out will give Roma a shout at improving on last season.

Ins: Kevin Strootman (PSV, £14.52m), Gianluca Caprari (Pescara, £1.76m), Tin Jedvaj (Dinamo Zagreb, £4.4m), Mattia Destro (Genoa, £3.96m), Lukasz Skorupski (Zabrze, £0.78m), Mehdi Benatia (Udinese, £11.88m), Maicon (Manchester City, free), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli, £0.44m), Gervinho (Arsenal, £7.04m).

Outs: Bojan Krkic (Barcelona, £11.44), Maarten Stekelenburg (Fulham, £4.93m), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Genoa, £2.64m), Marquinhos (PSG, £27.63m), Pablo Osvaldo (Southampton, £13.29m), Nico Lopez (Udinese, £0.88m).

Net spend: +£17.26m

Lazio: B

Lazio ended last season with a wonderful victory in the Coppa Italia over their fierce rivals Roma.

The Biancocelesti have strengthened well and kept hold of all of their top players, which puts them in an excellent position to make a quiet charge at the Champions League.

The midfield has been given some needed energy in the shape of Lucas Biglia, who will add zip to the tempo of the passing and reduce the burden of passing on Hernanes.

Keeping hold of the key members of the squad that won the Coppa Italia was imperative: Federico Marchetti, Miroslav Klose, Senad Lulic and Hernanes remain, ensuring continuity under Wladimir Petkovic.

Ins: Brayan Perea (Cali, £1.76m),  Diego Novaretti (Toluca, free), Antonio Candreva (Udinese, £1.5m), Felipe Anderson (Santos, £7.2m), Lucas Biglia (Anderlecht, £6.16m).

Outs: Modibo Diakite (Sunderland, free), Javier Garrido (Norwich, £1.32m), Mauro Zarate (Velez, free).

Net spend: -£15.31m

Inter: B-

Inter enter a new era this season under the tutelage of Walter Mazzarri, after Massimo Moratti dispensed of the services of Andrea Stramaccioni this summer.

With Mazzarri's wonderful record at Napoli, it was a move that the Nerazzurri could not afford to let pass them by.

The team is far from ready to replicate the achievements of Jose Mourinho, but the Nerazzurri are gradually taking shape and could be a dark horse in the race for the top three.

Mauro Icardi, Saphir Taider, Mateo Kovacic, Ishak Belfodil and Juan Jesus will form the core of a new generation at Inter.

Mazzarri will be tasked with blending a team together that will be ready next summer to take that next step, when just a couple of additions will promote them into title contention.

It has been a rather positive summer for the Nerazzurri in terms of sheer number of moves secured, but with the lack of proven quality arriving, Inter are taking numerous risks.

Ins: Diego Laxalt (Defensor, £2.02m),  Mauro Icardi (Sampdoria, £5.28m), Ruben Botta (Tigre, free), Hugo Campagnaro (Napoli, free), Marco Andreolli (Chievo, free), Gaby Mudingayi (Bologna, £0.66m), Juan Pablo Carrizo (Lazio, free), Wallace (Chelsea, £1.32m loan), Ishak Belfodil (Parma, £6.6m), Rolando (Porto, £0.44m), Alessandro Capello (Bologna, £2.2m), Saphir Taider (Bologna, £4.84m)

Outs: Giulio Donati (Leverkusen, £2.64m), Luca Caldirola (Werder Bremen, £1.98m), Tomasso Rocchi (Released), Antonio Cassano (Parma, undiscolosed), Andrea Romano (Bologna, £1.1m), Dejan Stankovic (Released).

Net spend: -£22.7m