All eyes on Fiorentina as Roma look to maintain pace

Fiorentina, Roma and Udinese were among the leading protagonists of the 2007/08 Serie A.

Roma battled bravely in the title race with Inter. Eventually, the latter retained their honour but only by a slim margin. Roma somehow made up for that upset by claiming their second straight Coppa Italia.

Fiorentina finished fourth and snatched a Champions League berth at the expense of a more experienced Milan team and Udinese settled for a creditable seventh place in the final standings.

When the new Serie A season gets underway this weekend, these three sides will all seek to go one better on last term's achievements. Things will not be easy though because, in the opinion of most pundits, Juventus, Inter and Milan look to be a cut above the rest.

However, I still believe that Fiorentina, Roma and Udinese could play an important role in the Serie A even though breaking the stranglehold of the Milan duo and Turin's 'Old Lady' would be a difficult task.

Fiorentina have been particularly active on the transfer market this summer but, for sure, their best move was to convince coach Cesare Prandelli to stay at the helm.

Another huge plus for the Viola was having resisted the temptations of Roma to sell forward Adrian Mutu.

Fiorentina, however, have lost the services of two key players from last season, namely, midfielder Fabio Liverani (Palermo) and centre-half Thomas Ujfalusi (Atletico Madrid).

In compensation, Prandelli can count on more resources as his new squad includes new signings Felipe Melo (Almeira), Alberto Gilardino (Milan), Gianluca Comotto (Torino), Juan Vargas (Catania), Luciano Zauri (Lazio) and Sergio Almiron (Juventus).

Perhaps, what Fiorentina still need is more cover in central defence but the Viola have enough quality to rank among the top contenders next season.

The focus will zoom in on the Tuscany side as many think they can be the dark horses of the Serie A, like Juve were last season.

Two factors will mainly determine to which extent they will be able to compete with the big three.

Firstly, a prolonged involvement in the Champions League will surely hinder Fiorentina from reserving their best to their league commitments. For sure, Prandelli and most of his players lack experience when it comes to handle a packed calendar, including key Champions League and Serie A fixtures.

Secondly, Fiorentina need to keep their feet firmly on the ground. They have to show the same kind of passion and commitment of last season if they are to have another fantastic campaign.

By stark contrast, Roma were quite inoperative in the summer transfer market.

Luciano Spalletti's side have parted company with Amantino Mancini (Inter), Ludovic Giuly (Paris SG) and Matteo Ferrari (Genoa).

Julio Baptista (Real Madrid), Simone Loria (Siena) and John Arne Riise (Liverpool) are Roma's major signings for next season... too little for the Giallorossi to make the leap in quality and challenge for the scudetto, considering that they will be participating in the Champions League as well.

This will be a testing season for Spalletti as he seeks to drive his team into the top placings in the standings and keep the pace with the other front-runners from the word go.

Udinese remained practically unchanged with respect to a year ago. The northeasterners have always had a knack when it comes to make bargain deals by signing relatively unknown players and selling them at a huge profit.

This time around, Udinese, still under the guide of ex-Catania coach Pasquale Marino, off-loaded Andrea Dossena (Liverpool) and Giampiero Pinzi (Chievo) among others. Giovanni Pasquale (Livorno) and Luigi Sala (Sampdoria) are valuable additions for their defence.

Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez (River Plate), Serbian Dusan Basta (Red Star) and Bulgarian Nikola Vujadinovich (CSKA Sofia) aspire to become established players after joining the Friuli outfit this summer.

Doing well in the Serie A and developing new talents still rank high on Udinese's agenda.

Again, they look strong enough to improve on last year's showings but the double challenge of the UEFA Cup and Serie A might be all too much for them to cope with.