Teams in contention for a berth in Europe

With some teams' participation in next season's Serie A still in the balance, my analysis of the upcoming campaign will focus on the sides aiming for high places in 2005/06.

This first part will deal with the prospects of Palermo, Sampdoria, Udinese, Roma and Fiorentina - five teams who, if everything goes according to their plans, are expected to battle it out for a Champions League slot.

The financial crisis that has blighted Italian football these past few years has seen the already-existing gulf between the rich, powerful clubs and their small counterparts widening even further.

In this respect, Juventus, Milan and Inter are still a cut above the rest. Many football critics have already restricted the 2005/06 scudetto race for these three giants alone. So far, most of the other teams have acted very prudently in the transfer market, thus limiting their hopes of making a big leap in quality.

Whereas Juve, Milan and Inter, will contend the championship between them, the rest of the Serie A can easily be divided into three segments.

Fiorentina, Udinese, Palermo, Roma and Sampdoria could find themselves engaged in a mini-league of their own with the fourth place in the Champions League being the ultimate prize.

Then there will be a few other teams, among whom Lazio, whose main objective will be a trouble-free mid-table finish. Some seven to nine teams will fight for survival.

For Udinese it was always going to be a daunting task to hold on to their best players.

A year ago, they received various requests for players like David Pizarro and Marek Jankulovski. But club owner Gianpaolo Pozzo resisted the temptation even in the 2005 January transfer window.

His intention looked clear... Udinese wanted to raise their ambitions and so it was.

The Friuli side, one of Italy's yo-yo teams until a few years back, went all the way and finished fourth. For the first time in the club's history, they will participate in the lucrative Champions League next season.

Strangely, Udinese's participation in Europe seemed to have triggered the departure of the coach and some key players.

Take Luciano Spalletti for in-stance. His reason for quitting the coaching job was understandable. Once Udinese had qualified to the Champions League, then this automatically became the yardstick with which to measure the achievements of future seasons.

Udinese have already lost Pizarro (Inter), Jankulovski (Milan) and Per Kroldrup (Everton). For them, it will not be easy to retain the fourth spot.

It is a known fact that in the UEFA Cup, Udinese failed to deliver under different coaches (Alberto Zaccheroni, Francesco Guidolin, Luigi De Canio and Spalletti). A club with a poor track record in Europe will always find it hard to set on a good run in the Champions League particularly now that Udinese do not possess enough strength-in-depth to compete on two fronts.

Serse Cosmi, the man who steered Genoa to promotion, is the new Udinese coach. His determination to succeed where others have failed may see Udinese making progress but, I think, it will be difficult for them to finish ahead of Samp, Fiorentina, Palermo and Roma.

Spalletti will surely have imagined a completely different debut season with Roma. He would have preferred Pizarro to follow him. Other arrivals of note, among whom Rodrigo Taddei (Siena), Samuel Kuffour (Bayern Munich) and Nonda (Monaco) were expected to sign for the three-times champions.

But last week, it was held that Roma were banned from making any signings due to irregularities committed in the transfer of French defender Philippe Mexes a year ago.

That court decision has left Roma in disarray because a team which just managed to escape relegation the season before surely needs to be strengthened.

But Spalletti is pinning his hopes on the revival of the old guard to help Roma back to glory. Will he get it right?

For reasons similar to those of Udinese, Palermo had to find a substitute for coach Francesco Guidolin. He left immediately after helping them qualify to Europe for the first time.

Luigi Del Neri - Guidolin's successor - finds a tried-and-tested team which only needs minor changes in defence and in attack to remain competitive.

Palermo have parted with Lamberto Zauli (Sampdoria) and Luca Toni (Fiorentina) and replaced them with Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia) and Ayodele Makinwa (Atalanta). Matteo Guardalben is also on his way out as Palermo are intensifying their search for a more reliable goalkeeper.

Sampdoria start as favourites to top this five-team 'race in a race' for the simple reason that they have remained practically unchanged.

Last year, they missed out on qualification to the Champions League by a whisker. Samp's forte lies in the fact that they have been with the same players and coach for the past three years now and this has paid off.

The arrival of evergreen Zauli gives more options to an otherwise solid and settled midfield.

Samp's weak point last season was a failure to find an ideal striking partner for Francesco Flachi. Fabio Bazzani is now back at Samp after a loan spell with Lazio. But is that enough for Sampdoria to make their mark next season?

This summer, the Della Valle family has kept it promises to build an awesome Fiorentina squad after escaping relegation on the very last day of last season.

Cesare Prandelli takes over a team which has been strengthened in all departments. Stefano Fiore will make sure that strikers Toni and Valeri Bojinov will not run out of ammunition in attack. Christian Brocchi will add some much-needed steel in midfield whereas Giuseppe Pancaro, Alessandro Gamberini and goalkeeper Sebastian Frey will have the arduous task of making Fiorentina's rearguard less and less porous.

Fiorentina could improve by leaps and bounds with respect to last season. However, many think they still have a missing link in defence to be considered genuine challengers for a Champions League berth.