The title contenders?

Napoli were undoubtedly the club that did the most this summer in Italy – maybe you could argue Milan did more, but Napoli clearly moved to upgrade some areas and build a thicker squad to battle in all the competitions this season will put them in.

I've already covered both Marianucci and Kevin De Bruyne's arrivals at the start of the window. Here today I'll cover the rest, plus Openda and Zhegrova to Juventus. Let's dive in.

Napoli: Building Conte's Army

Defensive Reinforcements

Napoli further reinforced the defense by adding Sam Beukema for more than €30 million, which in my opinion is not super stonks. He improved on the value allowed to opponents in his zone and for defensive actions value, but the rest of his profile stayed pretty similar. What's good is that Conte is a coach who has consistently improved players under his wing, and the Dutch defender is just entering peak-age for his position given he'll be 27 in November. Still pricey.

Napoli also added the best shot-stopper of past Serie A in Milinković-Savić from Torino for €21 million. The rest of his numbers are not that great, so it doesn't seem exactly sensible business as he's already at peak-age for his position at 28 years old until February. Plus, Meret – whose contract Napoli renewed this summer – has started the first two games of Serie A's season.

Napoli then got Miguel Gutiérrez from Girona for around €20 million. That's one tricky signing. Gutiérrez impressed two seasons ago when Girona qualified for the Champions League, and he'll enter peak age for his position next year. But his profile last season – which worsened from the 2023/24 posted below – has almost the same shape, and it's not the one of a defensive fullback. Indeed, if you watched that Girona, you'd know he moved a lot on the pitch and was heavily involved in the finishing part of the game. I don't really think he's the kind of profile Conte would like, but maybe he'll mold him into something else. Still like him coming to Serie A at that price.

Napoli then got Elmas back from Leipzig on loan with buy option, and Noa Lang from PSV Eindhoven for almost €30 million. They're both born in 1999, so they're both right at the center of peak-age for attacking wingers/attacking midfielders. Elmas was an alright rotation player for Napoli before being sold and a quite good player for Torino last season. He'll probably rotate with the several offensive midfielders/left-wingers options Napoli have in the squad right now.

Noa Lang is honestly an exciting player – he could be totally worth the €30 million Napoli paid, and his 2024/25 season numbers were good in many aspects. But he was also not doing defense, which is why he probably won't be the starting winger often and Politano still edges him in Conte's eyes, making him not worth the money. Add to that he's quite injury-prone, and you have a no from me.

Napoli then got Lorenzo Lucca to be Lukaku's substitute for around €40 million. Born in 2000, he's just getting his feet wet when it comes to peak-age. He's a giant, and if he does well could easily be flipped for the Premier League unicorn trend in a couple years. Plus, as underlined by the team at The Transfer Flow, he played for an offensively underwhelming team at Udinese, and by weighting his radar for Dixon and Coles ratings, his atomic VAEP and xG metrics were quite good. Not a fan, but I can see the potential here.

Then Lukaku injured himself for what should be months, and Napoli got themselves Højlund, who is a 2003 so very young, out of peak-age with a lot of experience in tough games and environments. He's a different profile than the other two strikers Napoli have and is more of a run-in-behind type of striker. At around €50 million if made permanent, seems like a project where you give him to Conte who works his magic on him to level him up. Being in Napoli should give him the same power-up it gave to McTominay, as the memes are already predicting online. Under Ten Hag, his shooting quality numbers were good, but he needed to shoot more. I think he'll be good enough to get a permanent deal and be worth it.

Juventus: Last-Day Gambles

Then it comes to Juventus, who got a couple of gambles. For around €60 million if made permanent, on the last day of the window Juventus got both Loïs Openda and Edon Zhegrova. They both came from a slump in last season's numbers. Zhegrova is a 1999, so in plain peak-age for his position, while Openda is a year younger and will be in peak-age in a couple of seasons.

Zhegrova's numbers were really good in 2023/24 and became worse in the 2024/25 season, in which he also had a lot of injury trouble and ended up playing around 1500 minutes. At €17 million, it's a gamble I like as he's better than Nico González and costs around half of him, plus he’s already more of an intelligent decision-maker than Coincecao in the final third, but the injury problems are a big question mark.

Openda had this numbers in 2023/24 season:

Clearly a player that costs more than the around €40-45 million Juventus would pay to make him permanent. What's the matter here? Leipzig had a big slump last season, and as a consequence, so did all their players, with Openda the most hit by that. This has been talked about a lot in The Transfer Flow, and the silver lining is if he's in between what he did in 2023/24 and 2024/25, he's worth the money.

But – and it's a big one – where does Openda fit in Juventus' squad? Juventus as of now has Vlahović, David, and Openda as striker options in a system that fits one. Yıldız is the face of the team, and Openda would fit well in that position, while on the other wing Zhegrova and Conceição will battle for the starting place. I'm a Juventus fan so I'm fairly excited for his arrival, but I don't see how much and where he'll play given Vlahović being still in the squad and Yıldız's importance.

The Verdict

Napoli went all-in with depth and quality, spending big to give Conte the tools he needs. The question is whether the injury-prone players stay fit and if Conte can mold players like Gutiérrez to his system. Juventus took calculated risks on deadline day with players coming off down seasons – classic high-risk, high-reward moves that could define their campaign.