Sampdoria announced the signing of Luca Cigarini from fellow Serie A side Atalanta earlier today becoming the clubs fourth addition of the mercato.
The 30-year-old has spent the majority of his career with Atalanta having kitted up over 150 times for the Bergamese side since joining for a second spell from Napoli in 2011.
Cigarini who is primarily an attacking midfielder left Atalanta's pre-season training camp yesterday which raised suspicions of a new adventure being on the horizon and La Samp confirmed those suspicions with an announcement confirming the deal believed to be in the region of €3 million:
"UC Sampdoria announces that it has acquired the player Luca Cigarini [born in Montecchio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, June 20, 1986] outright from Atalanta."
Giampaolo completes deal number five
New manager Marco Giampaolo had already added defender Leandro Castan (on loan from Roma) and forwards Patrick Schick and Ante Budimir - who arrive from Sparta Prague and promoted Crotone respectively- to the mix before Cigarini joined Daniel Pavlovic, who ran out for Frosinone last season as the club' second transfer in as many days.
Cigarini's arrival takes La Samp's spending to just shy of the ten million mark and an assault to secure Dodo on a permanent basis is widely reported as still being on.
Where will Cigarini fit in?
Cigarini is almost certainly going to have a starting berth under Giampaolo but where exactly will remain unknown until he gets his first games under his belt in pre-season where the former Empoli boss may experiment what's best. The earlier transfer window sales of Fernando and Nenad Krsticic could see Cigarini be optimised a little further back in a more central midfield role but there is an equal chance that he will be planted behind the striker or strikers and given creative freedom.