The new Serie A campaign will not get underway before the third week of August. The extended break will give Italian top flight clubs ample time to prepare for the season ahead.

One of the first decisions club supremos take in the close season is whether to keep faith with the current coach or to start afresh with a new mentor on the bench.

So far, all 20 Serie A clubs but Milan have made this decision official.

The indications are that Christian Brocchi, who took charge of the Rossoneri towards the end of last season, will not be retained. The former hard-tackling midfielder is currently being linked with Brescia.

At the same time, a number of coaches are being mentioned as Brocchi’s replacement, including Sampdoria’s Vincenzo Montella, the top favourite to land the job at the San Siro, Marco Giampaolo, formerly of Empoli, and Frank de Boer, who left Dutch giants Ajax this summer.

The rest of Italy’s big guns, namely Juventus, Napoli, Roma and Inter, have opted for continuity.

Massimiliano Allegri was reported to have received various lucrative offers from non-Serie A clubs but he opted to stay put and extend his contract in Turin until the summer of 2018.

Roberto Mancini has a final year on his contract with Inter and hopes that the new owners – China’s Suning – will inject enough cash to help the Nerazzurri sign quality players and bridge the gap with champions Juventus.

Luciano Spalletti revived Roma’s fortunes last season. He has a contract until June 2017 but club president James Pallotta said he was keen to offer Spalletti a contract extension.

Maurizio Sarri did very well in his first year in charge of Napoli, who eventually finished runners-up behind Juventus in Serie A.

The new season poses a more daunting task for the former Empoli mentor as Napoli will have the dual challenge of the Serie A and Champions League. For the 57-year-old this will be his debut on the continent.

Paulo Sousa was a source of inspiration for Fiorentina in the first part of last season.

However, the Viola eventually lost their stride in the second half of the championship campaign, missing out on a top-three finish as the competitionintensified.

There were rumours that the Portuguese trainer had fallen out with the club owners and was on the brink of a move elsewhere but Sousa is still at the helm.

Marcelo Bielsa, former coach of Marseille and Athletic Bilbao, will make his first bow in the Serie A in 2016-17 as he was hired by Lazio on a one-year deal.

Ivan Juric led Crotone to their first ever promotion to the top flight in 2015-16. The 40-year-old Croatian has now joined Genoa.

Crotone’s first choice to replace Juric was Fabio Grosso, currently in charge of Juventus youths. But the 2006 Italy World Cup winner declined Crotone’s offer and they then opted to appoint Davide Nicola, previously in charge at Livorno and Bari.

Cagliari and Pescara (the other two newcomers) have kept faith with the same men that helped them win promotion last season – Massimo Rastelli and Massimo Oddo respectively.

Meanwhile, Sinisa Mihajlovic seeks to bounce back from his opaque season with Milan as he was unveiled as Giampiero Ventura’s replacement at Torino.

In similar vein, Giuseppe Iachini seeks to relaunch his ailing coaching career with Udinese.

After changing no fewer than seven coaches last season, Palermo fans hope for more stability as Davide Ballardini was retained after helping the Sicilians avoid relegation on the final day of the past campaign.