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If you’d listened closely enough, you could have heard the sound of hundreds of thousands of laptops being opened around the United Kingdom when the lockdown was officially announced.

With no football, no work, and no pubs to keep us entertained, we all returned to an old flame – Football Manager. The game which consumes your days, nights, and dreams.

One day you’re embarking on a new career with a team you know next to nothing about, and the next you’re partaking in imaginary press conferences while enjoying your morning shower…just me on that one?

But with the beginning of every career comes the most important – and let’s face it, the most exciting part of your time as the new manager at your next project. The transfer market.

There’s nothing more rewarding than plucking a young lad from obscurity and watching him grow into the very next star of European football. But since you’ve probably exhausted the different alternatives available in the Premier League’s transfer markets, you may need to broaden your horizons in these times of repetitive nothingness.

And one country which is witnessing some of the most prosperous and impressive youngster blossom is Italy.

So 90min is on hand to be your very own scout, and we’ve provided you with a shortlist of 16 up-and-coming Serie A stars who will improve your squad from the get-go. Without further ado, let’s dive straight in.

Goalkeepers

Juan Musso – At 25 years old, Musso is the grandad of these selections – but for a goalkeeper, he’s nothing more than a wee baby. The Udinese shot-stopper gets plenty of practice in front of a leaky defence, so he’s ready to show just what he’s made of at a higher level.

Alex Meret – If you’re looking for a top-class goalkeeper to stand between the sticks for the next 15 years, then Meret is the man. The ​Napoli youngster is a brilliant prospect, and one who will challenge Gianluigi Donnarumma for Italy’s number one spot over the coming years.

Defenders

Alessandro Bastoni – Inter’s rising star at the heart of the defence. Bastoni has impressed Antonio Conte so much this season, that he has replaced Diego Godin in I Nerazzurri’s backline. Sign whatever the price.

Merih Demiral – ​Between Demiral and Daniele Rugani, ​Juventus boast two of the best FM centre-back signings you can make. The Turkish star is an aggressive beast of a defender, and with 17 bravery and strength, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of this unit.

Nikola Milenkovic – This season was supposed to be Milenkovic’s coming of age, but frankly, it’s been a campaign to forget for Fiorentina. Still, FM rates the Serbian centre-back very highly, and with the right nurturing, he could be a cheap signing if you snatch him early on in your career.

Luca Pellegrini – Former Roma, now Juventus, but on loan at Cagliari star Luca Pellegrini is well-travelled for a young defender, and he’ll probably be up for sale in a couple of years on your next career. Snap him up, and reap the rewards of a bombing wing-back.

Midfielders

Sandro Tonali – Tonali’s rise to stardom has been well-documented, and the apparent heir to Andrea Pirlo’s throne is exactly that in our virtual world, too. Tough tackling, box-to-box and a playmaker, the teenage Italian has got the lot.

Rolando Mandragora – Why on earth did Juventus sell this guy?! Well, mainly because they have about 54 midfielders on their books, but still. Now at Udinese, Mandragora is a proper baller in midfield, a deep-lying playmaker who will dictate the game for you against every level of opposition.

Nicolas Dominguez – A 21-year-old Argentinian holding midfielder, Dominguez possesses all the traits to become a future star of the game. With great passing, vision and work rate, the Bologna man is the ideal candidate to dominate the pitch.

Nicolo Zaniolo – One of the best players in the world. A versatile footballer, Zaniolo can do a job in the centre of midfield, in a trequartista role or out wide – he has got the lot. Pace, power, strength, and the deftest touch in the business, you’d be mad not to break the bank for him.

Alessio Riccardi – If you can’t afford the likes of Zaniolo, why not nurture Roma starlet Riccardi, instead? The teenager is making waves in I Giallorossi’s Primavera at the moment, and he is showing all the right signs of becoming a superstar. Patience is key, but the payoff is gargantuan.

Forwards

Sebastiano Esposito – A 16-year-old wonderkid waiting to burst onto the scene at ​Inter. Why don’t you snap up this deadly finisher before he escapes your price range in a couple of years time?

Emanuel Vignato – Who? I hear you ask. That’s the point, though. Vignato has flown under the radar as a wicked wonderkid in the past couple of Football Manager editions, and FM20 is no exception. On loan at Serie B side Chievo from Bologna, you may have to wait a season until capturing this starlet – but the Italian winger will be worth the wait.

Dušan Vlahović – A highly-rated 20-year-old forward, Vlahović plies his trade at misfiring Fiorentina, a team which regularly lacks the stability and consistency for youngsters to thrive. Can you offer the Serbian star the perfect home to grow into one of Europe’s deadliest snipers?

Cengiz Under – Under may have threatened to become a superstar for a couple of seasons at Roma, but on FM this Turkish winger is the real deal. A right-sided inside forward, Under chips in with a healthy number of goals and assists, but his dynamic dribbling makes him a menace for any defender.

Andrea Pinamonti – The hype surrounding Pinamonti in Italy is real. The 20-year-old is one of the most exciting attacking prospects in Serie A, and after bossing the Under-19 European Championships and the Under-20 World Cup, he’s ready to prove his worth on the big stage – in a better side than Genoa.

​Romelu Lukaku has apologised to Inter after he claimed that 23 of the 25-man squad were dealing with coronavirus-related symptoms back in January.

The forward was speaking to Belgian TV presenter Kat Kerkhofs during an Instagram Live conversation, in which is bizarrely revealed that the vast majority of the Nerazzurri squad were feeling ‘sick’ after they returned from their annual Serie A winter break.

His comments caused Inter to reprimand the striker – as they felt his insinuations were misleading and confusing – but ​Sky Sports now report that the former Manchester United striker has since apologised and the matter is considered forgotten.

​Initially, he’d told Kerkhofs that teammate Milan Skriniar, in particular, had struggled to play during a Serie A clash with Cagliari, with various others feeling out of sorts.

“We had a week off in December, we returned to work and I swear that 23 out of 25 players were ill. I am not kidding,” ​Lukaku said.

“We played against Radja Nainggolan’s Cagliari and after about 25 minutes, one of our defenders [Milan Skriniar] had to leave the pitch. He could not continue and almost fainted. Everyone was coughing and had a fever. When I was warming up, I felt a lot hotter than usual. I hadn’t suffered from a fever in years.

“After the game there was a planned dinner with guests from Puma, but I thanked them and went straight to bed. We never did the Covid-19 tests at that moment, so we will never know for sure.”

Currently, the powerful Belgian is one of thousands of footballers on lockdown, two months after Serie A action was first postponed.

Italy is one of the worst affected countries in terms of number of coronavirus cases, with Juventus duo Blaise Matuidi and Paulo Dybala among those to have tested positive for the virus. Both have since made a full recovery.

​Mario Gómez.

It’s name which has struck fear into defences for almost two decades. But the Germany legend is entering his last few months with his boyhood club VfB Stuttgart and the 34-year-old might not sign another contract again.

Gómez has enjoyed an incredible career where he’s scored 314 goals for club and country, but in trying to get Stuttgart promoted from Germany’s second division, the veteran forward has been cruelly out of touch in modern football.

He’s still scored six goals in the league for Stuttgart, which makes him their joint-top goalscorer, but Gómez’s most notable moments in 2019/20 have actually come when he’s found the back of the net, only for his strikes to be ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee.

In the first half of the season alone, Gómez had an impressive six goals ruled out by football’s new technology, including a hat-trick(!) which was chalked off by VAR against SV Sandhausen.

They were all correctly ruled out, of course, even though Gómez unsurprisingly called those decisions “bulls***”.

And although the infamous ​Mario Gómez button has been pressed more than a few times since he returned to Stuttgart, this season has highlighted exactly why the once great Germany striker should probably hang up his boots this summer.

Stuttgart are far from the youngest team in Germany’s second division. Holger Badstuber and Gonzalo Castro have found their way to the Mercedes-Benz Arena after being left surplus to requirements at bigger clubs, but Gómez has stood out as a fibre-optic Fagin.

With Nicolás González and Silas Wamangituka providing the excitement in the final third, Gómez’s legendary style has been caught out all too often by VAR and the Stuttgart legend has largely found himself holding the club back.

As expected, Gómez still pops up with some clutch moments. Stuttgart haven’t lost this season when the 34-year-old has found the back of the net, but the club are looking to move in a new direction and the former Germany international will sadly have to be left in the past.

Sven Mislintat has been brought in as their sporting director and Thomas Hitzlsperger is also involved behind the scenes, but the 2007 Bundesliga champions trendy new trajectory will only be made a reality if they leave the analogue Gómez behind.

Atlético Madrid haven’t won any domestic trophies since stunning Barcelona and Real Madrid to take La Liga in 2013/14. That’s six years ago now.

They’ve huffed and puffed and come mighty close on occasion – and of course won the Europa League and Super Cup since – but it’s the Clásico sides that have been the dominant forces domestically over the last half-decade.

Diego Simeone will be desperate for that to change however, and Atlético are – as always – seemingly only a handful of tweaks away from having the balance and class to really compete for silverware.

There is the odd player out of contract at the Metropolitano this summer and here 90min outlines the dream transfers in and the necessary exits the other way that could bring back glory at the club as soon as next season.

Transfers In

New acquisitions up front would be a hell of a lot more pressing if ​Álvaro Morata wasn’t going to make his loan move from ​Chelsea a permanent one in the summer. But he is.

Elsewhere, left-back needs strengthening to provide competition for Renan Lodi. There have been links with Manuel Akanji of ​Borussia Dortmund, but if there’s one position that definitely doesn’t need strengthening, it’s centre-back.

Gabriel Veron – Winning the Golden Ball for best player at an under-17 World Cup isn’t always an indicator of things to come, but they all seem to be snapped up for quite hefty sums. 17-year-old Palmerias winger Veron won the accolade in November and has ​attracted a lot of attention from major European sides. ​Atlético could do with a promising winger like him. £25m

Luís Maximiano – With Jan Oblak’s only back-up keeper Antonio Adán out of contract this summer, Simeone desperately needs a new second-choice shot-stopper. Maximiano of Sporting CP is an exciting prospect at just 21 and has experience as a Portugal youth international at every age-group. £10m

Alexandre Lacazette – Rumours of Mikel Arteta’s desperation for defensive midfield ace Thomas Partey have been circling for a while now. And now comes the revelation that a ​swap deal for ​Lacazette is what ​Arsenal want. Although their positions are entirely different, it actually would make sense, too. The club need a new focal-point striker and Lacazette can be that and more. £45m

Marcos Alonso – Brazilian Renan Lodi is a splendid athlete as Atléti’s left-back, but he needs competition. In ​Kieran Trippier, Santiago Arias and Sime Vrsaljko, the club have three brilliant right-sided fullbacks. A second player is needed on the left flank though. A return to his native for ​Marcos Alonso would make a lot of sense. £20m

Marc Roca – It seems that the time has come when someone will swoop down and grab one of Simeone’s most valuable assets from him — defensive midfielder Thomas Partey. If the Ghanaian does indeed get wrestled away, then another all-action holding player will be pulled in. Espanyol’s Marc Roca would be a possible fit. £30m

Potential Spend: £130m

Transfers Out

Antonio Adán – The goalkeeper’s contract runs out in the summer and those up high at the Metropolitano will be hoping to squeeze any money out of a transfer that they possibly can. £2m

Diego Costa – The aggressive Spanish striker was electric in his second stint at Atlético and at Chelsea, but this third run on the red side of Madrid has seen his scoring reach much less prolific levels. Simeone certainly does want a striker like ​Costa, but 7 goals in 44 La Liga games at the age of 31 suggests sell rather than keep. £10m

Thomas Partey – Everyone would want him but only one team can have him. His contract runs all the way to summer 2023, but Partey is a prized asset and a sale could well have some much-needed finance in store for the club. Swap deal with Lacazette or not, now is the time to cash in and replace. £45m

Nikola Kalinić – Sent home from the 2018 World Cup squad with Croatia after refusing to play, the former ​Milan, ​Blackburn and Fiorentina forward has been decent without ever being great on loan this season at Roma. He’s 32 and he’ll be on his way out. £8m

Potential Sales: £65m

Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco is also set to leave in the summer — returning to his parent club Dalian Pro in the Chinese Super League.

Full First-Team Squad for 2020/21 in a Dream Scenario (inc. Squad Numbers)

​It’s no secret that Chelsea are on the lookout for a new goalkeeper in the upcoming summer transfer window, but settling on the right target is not as easy as it sounds.

The Blues thought that they had secured a long-term replacement for Petr Cech in 2018, when they broke the world transfer record for a goalkeeper by splashing £72m on Athletic Bilbao shot-stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga. Unfortunately, his spell in west London has since turned into a bit of a nightmare.

The Spanish star was dropped by Frank Lampard after a poor run of form between the sticks, and the Chelsea coach looks to have lost complete faith in the youngster’s capabilities. And Lampard is seemingly prepared to cut Arrizabalaga loose, having turned his attentions to Ajax star Andre Onana.

According to ​the Telegraph, Ajax are willing to part ways with Onana in the summer – but ​Chelsea will have to fork out £35m for the 24-year-old’s services – a fee which seems more than reasonable considering the sum they splurged on Arrizabalaga just over 18 months ago.

Onana starred during Ajax’s run to the Champions League semi-final last season, and his impressive performances have convinced the Blues that he could become the new number one at Stamford Bridge.

The former Barcelona shot-stopper has two years remaining on his current contract, so Ajax find themselves in a strong position to negotiate for the time being, and they will be fielding calls from some of football’s elite clubs.

The goalkeeper’s preference is to join the Premier League or manufacture a move back to La Liga – including a possible return to Barça – but if no adequate bids arrive from abroad, he is happy to stay at Ajax for the coming seasons.

Onana has been a first-team regular for the Dutch champions for the last four seasons, and he has continued to make a name for himself as one of European football’s most exciting goalkeepers.

The coronavirus outbreak has seen all sport come to an abrupt halt, leaving a substantial void in many people’s weekly routines.

The pandemic has changed so many aspects of individual’s lives, and the absence of sport pales into insignificance in comparison to the suffering that so many are currently facing.

But for a large number of people, sport provides a distraction from the day to day struggles, and in times like this, it is needed more than ever.

The BBC acted swiftly following the outbreak, adapting in the face of the government’s lockdown guidelines to continue to provide sporting content despite the absence of anything live, offering a slice of normality for people in the uncertain climate.

Speaking to 90min, Steve Rudge, BBC Sport’s lead executive of football, said: “One of the key things we discussed as a team and thought was quite important was to have some sort of sense of normality in life and to have those regular BBC football programmes or slots where audiences would expect to see football or sport to try and continue.

“That’s why having some football in that BBC Match of the Day 10:30 slot we think is quite important.

“It was trying to build a schedule on what we normally do, and it’s amazing to see our teams deliver the last three or four weekends almost four brand new programmes every Saturday, whilst working from home with brand new technology.

The BBC could not predict the scale and the suddenness to which society would grind to a halt. However, the broadcaster did have some pre-recorded links for Football Focus and Match of the Day X, enabling the immediate weekend schedules to be filled, and giving them time to produce fresh content.

“We pre-recorded a lot of links to create ‘best of’ programmes,” Rudge added. “They were the first things you saw over those first two weekends, and that probably just bought us maybe another week or so just to get a few more concrete plans in place about how we can then go back and build that normal schedule.

“That allowed us to have discussions with our technical teams – how in the current climate do we ever get a camera in Gary [Lineker] or Dan Walker’s house, how do we get microphone kits to all the people who work on the radio, how do we make all these things happen?”

The BBC have tapped into people’s nostalgia soft spots with Match of Their Day and World Cup Rewind, and have stimulated debate with the Match of the Day: Top 10 Podcast.

“We’re lucky that the podcast commissioned by BBC Sounds to dovetail and work alongside Match of Day the TV show had been filmed but only for promotional clip usage,” Rudge said.

“But the footage was good enough to take to BBC One, so out of this adversity this TV programme was born out of a brilliant podcast commission.

“In a time when people are not as connected as normal because they cannot go and meet their friends in the pub, and can’t engage in that debate, to suddenly see three footballing legends on a Saturday night, all conducting a good football debate like you would do with your friends over Zoom I think is really relatable to people.”

The BBC have drafted out their schedule for April and May so that it mirrors the regular football season, with FA Cup nostalgia planned for FA Cup weekends, and final day of the season content penned in for 17 May.

“We’ve plotted out quite a lot between now and May, and then we’re working out the final plans for some sort of summer of sport across the BBC, for all manner of sports that might bring joy to the biggest audiences as possible, and football will very firmly be a part of that in June.

“We’re not in any position to know what or when [football might return], we’ll just work with all the sporting bodies, when they work out what they might want to do to bring football back, and to be fair to the FA, Premier League, UEFA, FIFA have all been very supportive not just to us at the BBC but I think to all broadcasters in helping us work with them and understanding the needs of audiences, who want to try and see some action, so it’s a big thank you to them as well.”