Serie A transfer deadline day roundup
As the transfer window slammed shut promptly at 7pm on Monday evening, a grand total of â¬500million had made its way out of the coffers of the 20 Serie A sides.
Needless to say, leading the way were money-bags Inter who took their spending spree for the summer to nearly â¬67m, topping it off with a bit of late shopping for Ricardo Quaresma.
President Massimo Moratti had initially vetoed the move for the Porto winger after throwing a bit of a moody when Jose Mourinho could only muster up a 1-1 draw at Sampdoria, but that lasted all of a couple of hours as he was soon happily signing a cheque for around â¬24.6m.
Mourinho had got his way once again and the arrival of the 24-year-old must now herald the end for Luis FigoâÂÂs days of trying to beat a man.
Inter's latest new recruit
Another cumbersome veteran left pondering his Inter future will be Hernan Crespo who was dumped off the squad list for the Champions League group stage.
ItâÂÂs a major body blow for the Argentine who turned down a switch to Sampdoria to battle for a place in the NerazzurriâÂÂs top-heavy attack.
After extolling the virtues of his boss all summer, poor Hernan received the news in the worst way possible: a text message.
"2 Hernan, srry 2 say bt u r nt in Champs Lge sqod. Luv Special 1"
Maybe he should have taken a leaf out of Tiago Mendesâ book and locked his tormentor in the toilet.
Apparently, the Portuguese had become so fed up with Juventus trying to offload him that when he saw president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli nip off to the little boyâÂÂs room he decided to get his own back.
What the lock was doing on the outside of the door is anyoneâÂÂs guess but it was only the intervention of a passing Alessandro Del Piero that relieved the prez from his predicament.
Juve president Gigli alongside his saviour
Also spending a penny or two have been Fiorentina who outlaid â¬48m on new recruits, AS Roma â¬44m and AC Milan â¬43.5m.
While the Viola were only able to claw back â¬4.8m back on sales, the Rossoneri brought in a healthy â¬38.5m to help balance the books.
Can money buy you success? Well, Genoa must think so as they have splashed out a hefty â¬57m in an attempt to bridge the great divide and break into the top five.
Apart from that there was little hyper-activity on the final day, but three cheers to the frugal Udinese, who not only got off to a great start to the campaign in a 3-1 win over Palermo, but managed to walk away with a tidy â¬16m profit from their transfer dealings, proving that you can not only survive but thrive on a shoestring.
So thatâÂÂs it until January 1 but, in the meantime, here's the Serie Aaaaargh! top five moves of the close season.
1. Amauri from Palermo to Juventus â¬22.8m
2. Ronaldinho from Barcelona to AC Milan â¬22.5m
3. Alberto Gilardino from AC Milan to Fiorentina â¬15m
4. Julio Baptista from Real Madrid to AS Roma â¬12m
5. Juan Vargas from Catania to Fiorentina â¬12m
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