Series looking at the new Foreign player
signings in the Serie A in the 1980s and their impact.
Just like in 1983, the
summer of 1984, the Italian Serie A was the most attractive destination of the
World’s best as the memories of the 1982 World Cup still lingered on.
Naturally, the greatest
arrival was that of the greatest and most hyped player in the world, the Argentine
superstar Diego Maradona at then unfancied Napoli. Though, it must be remembered
that Maradona was not at his best after two lukewarm seasons at Barcelona. Therefore,
the jury was still out on him, and it was in some ways an attempt to
re-establish his reputation.
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
|
(Diego Maradona) |
AC Milan dispensed with
the suspended Belgian defender Eric Gerets and sent English striker Luther
Blissett back to his club Watford. In their place they brought in the English
duo of Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley. Former Manchester United midfielder Wilkins
was an experienced international, while Hateley, a striker (playing in the
English Second Division Portsmouth) had caught their eye after scoring against Brazil
in the Maracana for the English national Team in June 1984.
Verona signed the
experienced West German international Hans-Peter Briegel from Kaiserslautern,
and Danish striker Preben Elkjaer from Belgian side Lokeren.
Elkjaer’s performances in
the 1984 Euros earned him a move to the Serie A.
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
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(Mark Hateley and Ray
Wilkins) |
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
|
(Hans-Peter Briegel and Preben
Elkjer) |
West German captain and double
Ballon d’Or winner (1980, 1981) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge arrived at Inter after so
many years at the top with Bayern Munich.
The Milanese side
offloaded Belgian midfielder Ludo Coeck to Ascoli (on loan) and West German
midfielder Hansi Muller (also on loan to Como).
Inter also welcomed Irish
midfielder Liam Brady, arriving from Sampdoria.
Scotland captain Grame
Souness arrived after so many years of success at Liverpool having just won the
League title and the Champions Cup against Roma.
He joined Englishman
Trevor Francis already at the Genoese club.
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
|
(Karl-Heinz Rummenigge) |
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
|
(Graeme Souness) |
Brazil’s performance in the
1982 World Cup was still in everyone’s memory. Fiorentina offloaded Daniel
Bertoni to join his compatriot Maradona at Napoli. In his place, the Florence
side signed Brazil and Corinthians Captain Socrates, to join fellow South
American, the Argentine captain Daniel Passarella.
Torino offloaded the Argentine
Patricio Hernandez to Ascoli and welcome another one of Brazil’s 1982 standouts,
Junior from Flamengo.
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
|
(Socrates) |
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
|
(Junior) |
Swedish striker Dan Corneliusson was signed by newly promoted Como after winning the German Bundesliga title with VfB Stuttgart.
Newly Promoted Atalanta signed
the Swedish duo of Glenn Strömberg (from Benfica) and Lars Larsson from Malmö
FF.
Also to note that during the
season, Polish defender Władysław Żmuda joined newly promoted Cremonese (arriving
from New York Cosmos, after leaving Verona in the summer). He remained at the club
until 1987 and retired, then in the Serie B.
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
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(Dan Corneluisson) |
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Photo From: 1984-85
Calciatori Panini
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(Glenn Strömberg and Lars
Larsson) |
Diego Maradona would
become the greatest player in the World during his spell at Napoli, though this
first season was modest by his standards.
In his seven years at Napoli,
he would win two Scudetti (1987, 1990) and was the greatest star in World Football.
He won the World Cup in 1986 with his nation, Argentina, while a Napoli player.
He left in 1991, amidst
much controversy following a drugs ban.
(Note: the
following information regarding the Brazilin contingent, was mostly copied from
my blog article regarding the 1982 Generation of Brazilian players in the Serie
A: https://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-soccernostalgia-interview-part-65.html)
Socrates’ solitary season is often
referenced as one of Serie A’s worst transfers ever. It was a mystery how such
a gifted player failed to adapt to the Serie A.
It was reported that he claimed that his
teammates had deliberately refused to pass to him.
He returned home after one unhappy
season to join Flamengo. He passed away on December 4, 2011, aged only 57.
He spent two seasons there, getting relegated at the end of the
second season (1988/89). The 35-year-old Junior returned home to Flamengo and
even managed a few appearances for the National Team as a 37-year-old in 1992,
before retiring in 1993.
Mark Hately and Ray
Wilins had a relatively successful spell and remained with Milan until 1987.
They helped AC Milan qualify for the UEFA Cup in 1985 and 1987.
They would both depart in
1987 (Wilkins to PSG and Hately to Monaco) as new President Silvio Berluscioni
had signed the Dutch duo Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten.
Hateley would later have
a successful spell at Rangers Glasgow (1990-95) before spells with Queens Park Rangers,
Hull City and finally at Ross County in 1999.
Wilkins’ stay at PSG was
short and he joined Graeme Souness’s revolution at rangers Glasgow.
This was followed by
spells at Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace, Wycombe Wanderers, Hibernian, Millwall
and Leyton Orient until 1997.
He passed away on April
4, 2018, aged 61.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had
a successful time at Inter despite not winning the Scudetto. Inter regularly qualified
for Europe and reached two UEFA Cup semifinals in 1985 and 1986.
After three seasons, he
left in 1987 and saw out his career with two final seasons in Switzerland with
Servette Geneva until 1989.
Graeme Souness also had a
relatively successful spell at Sampdoria, winning the Coppa Italia in his first
season in 1985.
He left in 1986, becoming
the player-manager of Rangers Glasgow in a successful era, leading to the revival
of the club.
Swedish striker Dan Corneliusson
spent five years at Como and left after relegation in 1989.
Afterwards he had spells
at Wettingen, Malmö FF, Qviding FIF and Karlstad BK, retiring in 1995.
Glenn Strömberg would
have a long spell at Atalanta, one of the best foreign player successes at
Serie A. He played for Atalanta even in Serie B and reached the Cup Winners Cup
semifinals in 1988 and UEFA Cup quarterfinals in 1991 with the Bergamo side.
He retired after his eighth
and final season with Atalanta in 1992.
Lars Larsson’s lone
season at Atalanta was disappointing and he played only in a handful of matches.
He left and returned to Malmö FF, before a final spell at Trelleborgs FF before
retiring after the 1992/93 season.
He passed away on March 8th,
2025, aged just 52.
In this 1984/85 season, the
two most successful stranieri turned out to be the Verona duo of Briegel and Elkjaer.
The two were significant additions as Verona won the Scudetto in 1985.
Elkjaer would remain at
Veron until 1988 before returning home to Vejle and retiring in 1990.
He also helped Verona to
qualify for Europe in 1987.
Briegel left Verona after
two seasons in 1986 and joined Sampdoria. He would have two further relatively
successful seasons and win the Coppa Italia in 1988 with the club and retired
at the end of that season.
From this
group, apart from Briegel and Elkjaer, Junior, Rummenigge and Strömberg were the successful additions.
Of course,
Maradona is in a class on his own.
