Busy day at Sampdoria as they have concluded their business for Season 16 early with the capture of the following.

1. Pepe – he might be 38 years old but his 90 rating is safe for a little while and at very worse he will drop to 88 – in any which case it will still be an upgrade on the current centre-back capabilities of Sampdoria. Pepe played under Beddows as Real Madrid and described joining a team managed by God himself once again was a no brainer.

2. Federico Fernandez – another who might be on the old side – but regular premier league minutes makes him a very useful addition. With a few good young centre backs in the youth side he will become a stop gap solution until the youngsters develop. Another who has played for Beddows in the past at Milan winning trophies such as Copa del Duomo, the Pavarotti Cup etc.

3. Sofiane Boufal – great start to the season at Angers in real life. Gives us extra options at front. Chance of an 87? Ligue 1 has always been undervalued by SM.

4. Zeljko Gavric – a youngster signed alongside Pepe as part of the Bradaric deal. Just moved to Hungary in real life and player with great potential and recently won his first cap for Serbian national side.

What did we lose Bradaric (86) Javier Hernandez (87) and long serving CB Siovas (87)

Can Samp challenge next season? Time will tell? Options in the forward might influence this?