Sissoko bolsters Juve midfield

During January clubs all over Europe had the possibility to bolster their squads ahead of the second part of the season. In Italy, similar to past years, the big guns were relatively inactive contrary to those teams battling against relegation.

Milan secured the signature of Alexandre Pato from Internacional last summer. However, the European champions had to wait until January to make the move official due to the Brazilian U-18 status at the time of the deal.

Pato has already left a positive impact at Milan, scoring three goals in five first team appearances, including Sunday's winner at Fiorentina.

Although great things are expected from him, it would be a huge mistake if Milan were to burden Pato with too much responsibilities. He should be given ample time to adapt to the pace of the Serie A.

Comparisons with his fellow Brazilian team-mates Kaka and Ronaldo are so premature as he needs time to gel. The omens, however, certainly look good.

Last month, Milan also started thinking about signing a top-class goalkeeper (Sebastian Frey of Fiorentina) and an accomplished defender (Barcelona's Gianluca Zambrotta). These deals are expected to be finalised before the end of the current season.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini had to do without key midfielders Patrick Vieira, Dejan Stankovic, Luis Figo and Olivier Dacourt in the first part of the campaign.

Although the club acted swiftly to increase the options in midfield with the arrival of Portuguese international Ricardo Maniche from Atletico Madrid, Inter's biggest signings should prove to be the return to full fitness of their injured players.

Roma did not venture in the transfer market in January.

Luciano Spalletti's side off-loaded fringe players Faty (Nantes), Barusso (Galatasaray), Kuffour (Ajax) and Andreolli (Vicenza). They opted against reinforcements.

In Turin, Mohammed Sissoko is expected to add steel to Juve's midfield following his transfer from Liverpool.

Defender Guglielmo Stendardo (ex-Lazio) is only a stop-gap solution until the end of this season when the 'Old Lady' will officially unveil out-of-contract Swedish international Olof Mellberg, currently at Aston Villa.

However, Juve's best acquisition for the rest of the season should be the return of Mauro German Camoranesi who only managed a handful of appearances due to injuries.

The Argentine-born midfielder can ignite Juve's midfield and provide some much-needed ammunition to the side's attacking prowess.

Lazio have taken everyone by surprise as club president Claudio Lotito was among the busiest last month, luring Rolando Bianchi, Ousmane Dabo (both Man. City), Stefan Radu (Dinamo Bucharest) and David Rozenhal (Newcastle) to the misfiring Rome outfit.

The talk in the Italian capital is that Lotito is toying with the idea of selling the club he had saved from bankruptcy a few years ago. So, he is doing his utmost to steer the team to safer waters.

Relegation-threatened Torino were being tipped to sign unsettled Bianchi from Sven-Goran Eriksson's Man. City until Lotito came into the scene.

Walter Novellino's side badly lack a prolific striker but club owner Urbano Cairo has preferred to sign Palermo duo Aimo Diana and Marco Pisano.

Torino can benefit from the fact that both players already know Novellino at Sampdoria.

Ambitious Genoa and Napoli were also involved in the January transfer window. Their new signings should help the two newcomers to make a leap in quality and possibly aim for something higher than avoiding the drop.

Parma have signed striker Cristiano Lucarelli to score the goals needed to avoid the drop.

Catania, Reggina, Siena and bottom side Cagliari, in particular, have acquired several players - mostly on loan - to bolster their respective squads in their fight for Serie A survival.