While Ireland's Ronnie O'Brien enjoys his new found fame in Switzerland as a result of the general policy at big Italian clubs of loaning out young players as soon as possible, many of the rest of the new arrivals at Serie A clubs are being sent back to school.

League chief Franco Carraro has written to every club in the country asking them to get in touch with Perugia University where the language school is to help out recently-arrived foreigners. Some of the wealthier clubs are sticking with their own private tutors but with the number of overseas players expected to hit the 250 mark over the next week or two, many are only too happy to avail of the initiative.