THE SCENARIO: It is July 2016. Inter Milan have appointed Italian coach Dino Livorno to replace Roberto Mancini following last season’s disappointing fourth placed finish. The poor league campaign means the club misses out on Champions League football for a fifth consecutive season. With Juventus having won the last five Serie A titles and Roma and Napoli established as their main competitors, can Livorno reinvigorate the Nerazzurri and get them back into the elite of Italian football or will they fall even further behind?

Previous episodes: Episode 1

Prefer a different European league? Read our other series here: England – Premier League, France – Ligue 1, Germany – Bundesliga, Italy – Serie A, Spain – La Liga

1 August 2016

August brings the first two matches of our Serie A campaign. We open the season in fair Verona as we play the ‘Flying Donkeys’ Chievo. You must think I’m insulting my opponents, but that is actually one of their nicknames. A week later we host Palermo at the San Siro. Hopefully we get off to a winning start, as our schedule in September sees us play Juventus in our fourth league match.

6 August 2016

Our pre-season opponents Sevilla are interested in Murillo and have tabled a €17.5 million offer for him. He’s one of my best centre-backs though, and with Miranda possibly returning to Atletico Madrid after this season, I can’t afford to lose him.

I agree to let goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio leave on loan however. He would’ve been fourth-choice at best here, so hopefully he gets some valuable experience at Silkeborg.

11 August 2016

With one empty place in the squad thanks to Palacio’s departure, I make an offer for Schalke 04’s highly rated midfielder Max Meyer. The Germans want €25 million, but I make an opening bid of €20 million.

16 August 2016

Some good news today as Schalke have agreed to the Meyer deal. We work out contract details with the player and he is now officially part of the Nerazzurri. Benvenuto a Milano Max!

21 August 2016

Chievo Verona vs Inter Milan

For our opening Serie A match, we line up in a 4-4-1-1 formation. Miranda, Murillo, Nagatomo, and Ansaldi form the backline, while Perisic, Candreva, Kondogbia, and Joao Mario start in midfield. Banega will look to pull the strings playing just behind Icardi. New boy Meyer will start on the bench.

The underdogs (or is that underdonkeys?) start the match better and fashion some decent chances in the opening few minutes. Then in the 21st minute, Banega slips a pass to Nagatomo and the full back finishes confidently past Chievo keeper Sorrentino. The lead gives us a platform to build on and we create some good chances but are unable to beat Sorrentino. Chievo also have a great chance to equalise but are thwarted by Handanovic. Icardi finally wraps the victory with a tap in in the 82nd minute.  A good solid 2-0 win away from home to start the season.

22 August 2016

Fiorentina want Jonathan Biabiany. The French winger is in his third spell with the club, but with Candreva and Perisic likely to start on the flanks in most games, I consider him a squad player at best. He wants regular first-team football, so I agree to let him go if Fiorentina increase their offer to €8 million.

23 August 2016

Fiorentina agree to meet our €8 million asking price for Biabiany. With that move seemingly close to completion, I make a move to replace him with Nice’s Younes Belhanda. The French side want €24 million for him, but we’ll see if €19 million is good enough for them.

25 August 2016

So it turns out that our offer for Belhanda was good enough for Nice to sell him. It sure was nice of them not to make this difficult for us. Heh. We agree to his wage demands with minimum fuss, and are pleased to confirm another exciting signing. He’ll wear the #11 shirt previously worn by Biabiany. Benvenuto a Milano, Younes!

28 August 2016

Inter Milan vs Palermo

Our first home game of the season as we host Palermo at the San Siro. I stick to the same lineup as last week as we look to make it two wins in a row. New signing Belhanda is on the bench for this one.

The first half ends goalless as Palermo keeper Josip Posavec makes two great saves from headed efforts by Icardi and Candreva. We finally breakthrough early in the second half as Kondogbia latches onto a pass by Ansaldi inside the box and finishes low to Posavec’s left. Banega then scores his first goal for the club to give us some breathing space. Icardi could’ve added a third, but is denied by a superb one handed save by Posavec, who had a very good match.

31 August 2016

Transfer deadline day begins with two bids from other Serie A sides for our players. Bologna, currently one of five teams in Serie A with a 100% record, want our Australian defender Sainsbury. I must admit I didn’t think much of the player when I first arrived, but when I used him in pre-season he did alright. He won’t be expecting to play every match, and squad players are always needed over the course of the season. I decide to keep him to see how he develops.

Meanwhile, Napoli (another of those teams with a 100% record) want Kondogbia to strengthen their midfield. I’ve already rejected Nice’s bid for him earlier this season, and I have even less interest in selling him to an Italian team.

Later in the day, Wolfsburg make a €51.5 million offer for Icardi. I had no idea they were that rich (Volkswagen sales must be good huh) but I wouldn’t even sell him to Manchester United last month. If I do sell the Argentine in the future, it will have to be to a club like United, Bayern, Barcelona, or Real Madrid. Not bloody Wolfsburg.

And so deadline day ends without any moves on our part. There are some big deals elsewhere though, as Mesut Ozil leaves Arsenal for Barcelona and Javier Pastore joins Atletico Madrid from PSG. The biggest deal involving an Italian club is good news for us, as Roma star Radja Nainggolan joins Chelsea.

Screenshots and videos taken from FIFA 17 by EA Sports