Ten transfers we enjoyed this summer

The summer transfer window is often dominated by a select few stories that the media squeeze for every ounce of clickable content, but there’s so much more to life than Ademola Lookman’s failed transfer to Inter, or even Luka Modric scoffing at Saudi millions or the American dollar.

Every now and then, a transfer comes along that makes you think football has a little romance in it yet. A redemption arc, a future star forging their path in relative obscurity, maybe even an underdog finally being recognised and getting that big move.

These are the transfers that made us feel something this summer:

Papu Gomez to Padova

Why not start with a totally off the wall move? The protagonist of Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta original side, Papu is now a Serie B man after receiving a two year doping ban while at Monza. It expires in October, at which point he’s free to rock the world in Mantova, Catanzaro and beyond.

Newly promoted Padova took a punt on the 37-year-old fantasista who could rip the league up if he’s even a fraction of the player that Gasperini fell out with in 2021.

Padova also created this enjoyable video to formally announce him. Papu will be eligible after the October international break and should attract some informal attention to Serie B. If Modric can do it for Milan at 40, then why can’t Papu make magic happen at Euganeo?

Evan Ferguson to Roma

A one-time boy wonder in need of rejuvenation? A striker? Working under Gasperini? Sign me up. Well, sign Evan Ferguson up, at least. 

Never has a transfer made so much sense despite not being an obvious move for both parties. Roma needed a striker and Ferguson a change of scenery. Gasperini is widely considered the Doctor Doolittle of strikers, able to turn their fortunes around and get them scoring with his encrypted whispers.

Ferguson had a strong pre-season but, more importantly, he looked sharp in Roma’s 1-0 win against Bologna and set up the only goal in their win against Pisa. If he can stay fit, the goals will surely come and it won’t be long before Roma are tempted to activate that €40m buy option.

If a 20-year-old Irish striker can make himself loved in Roma, then it might just be the story of the season.

Ciro Immobile to Bologna

From one striker to another, except Immobile is already revered in Rome, but on the other side of the city. The eternally prolific Ciro left Lazio last summer and embraced a crying fan at Fiumicino airport as he jetted off to Turkey to play for Besiktas.

A year has passed and he returns to Italy, tasked with playing big brother to Bologna’s young attacker Santiago Castro and help take some pressure off Thijs Dallinga, who has struggled for goals since joining from Toulouse last summer.

Immobile strained his hamstring on his opening day debut and will likely miss the next six weeks, but when he returns we might see him hunting down Roberto Baggio and Toto Di Natale’s scoring records. Although, these days, you can’t rule out Immobile playing another six years and chasing Silvio Piola’s all-time record of 274. After all, he’s only 73 goals short.

Lennon Miller to Udinese

The Scottish invasion of Serie A continues with teenage midfielder Lennon Miller. A versatile player with 76 senior matches under his belt at Motherwell already, he clearly has a bright future ahead.

Miller might be the archetypal Udinese signing: high potential for a low fee and, crucially, has the ability to generate a considerable sell-on profit. His compatriot Aaron Hickey was eighteen when he signed for Bologna in 2020 and was a star by the time he left for Brentford two years later.

There’s real belief in Udine that Miller could be another gem and that he’ll play for a top club at some point, which is no disrespect to the Zebrette.

Lorenzo Colombo to Genoa

Even if only because he shares a name with Genovese native Christopher Columbus — Colombo being the Italian version — there’s something about this signing that screams: success!

Let’s ignore the whole failing to score in his first two matches thing and just go along with this one for the vibes. Milan have kept him on the books until this point because they clearly believe he has a future, or at least see a considerable sale on the horizon, and seven goals at relegated Empoli last year would indicate he can make an impact in Serie A.

Colombo can navigate — wahey! — the stormy seas — alright, that’s enough — of Serie A and help lead Genoa’s attack. 

Jamie Vardy to Cremonese

This one has the vibe of a Football Manager game that’s gone too far about it. Jamie Vardy playing football in the home of Stradivarius violins. Red Bull spritz is about to become a thing in the city, especially if Vardy can do much to add to his 145 Premier League goals scored at Leicester City. 

To say that Cremonese fans are excited is an understatement. One man had already tattooed Vardy on his body and asked the new Grigiorossi striker to sign the fresh ink. 

Even at 38, he’s got the potential to score a few goals, ones which could make the difference between survival and relegation for Davide Nicola’s men. Vardy doesn’t quite have ‘star power’ in the way Kevin De Bruyne or Luka Modric do, but he is a cult figure in the game and it’s undoubtedly a move that will put Cremonese on the radar of some people who probably thought they were just an off-brand Nutella until now.

Andrea Adorante to Venezia

Hipster alert! “Hey dude, you really should be watching Andrea Adorante at Juve Stabia,” me, probably. But really, he ripped things up in Serie B last year for a newly promoted Juve Stabia side that made it to the play-off semi-finals largely thanks to his seventeen goals.

Venezia snapped him up after relegation back to Serie B, adding him to a decent attacking crop that should give coach Giovanni Stroppa reasons to be optimistic about securing what would be his fourth promotion at this level.

Adorante hasn’t scored in his first two games but he wasn’t helped by strike partner John Yeboah being sent off as they drew 0-0 in Adorante’s return to Castellammare di Stabia last week. If he finds his 2024/25 form, he might be looking at challenging Joel Pohjanpalo for the league’s top scorer gong.

Sebastiano Esposito to Cagliari

A teammate of Colombo at Empoli last season, the Inter wonderkid of 2019 is also searching for a permanent home, like Colombo. Optimistic Inter fans may have hoped his ten goals for Empoli might have been enough to keep him around this year, but Cristian Chivu preferred to bring Yoan-Ange Bonny with him from Parma.

Esposito has shed the failed wonderkid tag by displaying maturity in his last two loan spells at Empoli and Sampdoria before that. He’s capable of leading the line but having a traditional number nine to work with brings the best out of his ability to link play and create chances for others also.

With the sale of Roberto Piccoli to Fiorentina, the Sardinian side will be even more reliant on Esposito, who joined on loan with an option to buy.

The same happened with his 2022/23 teammate at Bari: goalkeeper Elia Caprile. The young stopper joined in January last year on loan from Napoli and impressed immediately, making his stay permanent in the summer.

Gaetano Castrovilli to Bari

We do love a hometown boy returning to the place where it all started. Euro 2021 winner Castrovilli’s career stalled due to a horrific knee injury in April 2022, the aftermath of which saw him fail a medical at Bournemouth a year later.

Castrovilli had a relatively unhappy 2024/25, failing to make an impact at Lazio before heading to relegation bound Monza for a few months.

Now, he’s back at Bari, who he joined aged nine and stayed until Fiorentina signed him in 2017. He’s only turned 28 this year, so there’s certainly still hope for him. If he can stay relatively injury free, he could be the midfield signing they needed to guide them to the play-offs. Should he achieve an unexpected promotion with Bari, it might just be the fairy tale of the season.

Rasmus Hojlund to Napoli

And just like that, another big money Premier League signing is back in Serie A as grown men hiding behind faceless social media accounts call a 22-year-old everything under the sun.

It feels as though Hojlund’s move to Napoli was purely accidental, the consequence of Romelu Lukaku’s serious thigh injury, but you’d hope he’s relishing the chance to play under Antonio Conte in the Champions League for a team that’s favourite to defend their scudetto.

Conte always got the best out of Lukaku, another striker scorned in England, so there’s every reason to believe he can do the same with Hojlund, a raw talent.

Antonio Palumbo to Palermo

He was Modena’s star player last season, scoring nine and assisting ten goals, and has been consistently one of the best creators in the division for the past four years. So, naturally, moneybags Palermo decided to buy him in their pursuit of City Football Group-backed glory.

Palermo manager Pippo Inzaghi put a great emphasis on set pieces at Pisa last season, with almost 40% of their goals on the way to promotion generating from dead ball situations. Palumbo’s delivery is second to none in Serie B. 

He’s slowly being eased into the team but it would be astounding if he’s not forming a triumvirate with Matteo Brunori and Joel Pohjanpalo at the spearhead of Palermo’s attack very shortly. If he does, it could be very, very fruitful for the Rosanero on their way back to Serie A.