With Britons Graeme Souness and Trevor Francis leaving the squad, Boškov built his team around young Italian players, with Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli, Pietro Vierchowod and Moreno Mannini among the bulwark of the squad as Sampdoria finished 6th in a tight battle involving several teams for 3rd in the championship.
Long-serving coach Tony Parkes was appointed caretaker, remaining in the post until the end of the season, when he handed over the reins to Roy Hodgson after Sampdoria's Sven-Göran Eriksson changed his mind about accepting the manager's job and joined Lazio instead.
On July 2007, Fornaroli – who has Italian ancestry – was moved to Italian Serie A team Sampdoria from Nacional in which he started career as a professional footballer.
There, he has attracted interest from European teams like PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Internazionale, and Sampdoria.
The clubs thought to be interested in Nordfeldt were Ajax, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hannover, Heerenveen and Sampdoria.
After 13 years as a pro in Italy, where he also played for Sampdoria and Palermo, he returned to his native Södermalm and Hammarby in 1964.
Krstičić started his career at OFK Beograd and joined Sampdoria on 1 September 2008 on the insisting of Giuseppe Marotta, who believed the 17-year old was one of the most talented players he had ever brought to the club.
In 2005 he joined Palermo and made his debut for the club as a regular in a 2006–07 Coppa Italia match against Sampdoria and a UEFA Cup match against Fenerbahçe.
Already a member of the Switzerland U-17 national team at age 16, Ajax won the young player over ahead of Juventus, Sampdoria, Brescia, Nancy and Valenciennes, all who were in running for the young defender.
In 1961 he moved to Italy to play for Serie A club Sampdoria for one season (1961/62), before accepting a stint as a player/coach at Swiss side Young Boys (1962–1964).