Preview: Roma vs. Fiorentina

Ashley Cole will make his competitive Roma debut when they welcome Fiorentina to the Stadio Olimpico in their opening Serie A fixture of the season on Saturday.

The former England international left-back made the move abroad earlier this summer after spending eight trophy-ridden years at Chelsea.

He will not be lining up alongside highly-rated centre-half Mehdi Benatia in the Roma defence, however. The Moroccan international has this week secured a big-money switch to German champions Bayern Munich.

Kostas Manolas has been brought in to replace him in one of seven pre-season signings for the first-team squad made by Rudi Garcia, as the capital outfit look to challenge Juventus for domestic honours.

The Old Lady ran away with the league by 17 points last term, but Roma will hope that the additions of Radja Nainggolan, Juan Iturbe and ex-Barcelona man Seydou Keita will improve their title chances.

All three of the above could make their debuts this weekend, but Garcia will be without suspended goalkeeper Gianluca Curci, Marco Boriello and injured Manchester United midfield target Kevin Strootman.

Mattia Destro is expected to start up front despite Chelsea hoping to acquire the Italian forward, who scored 13 times in 20 appearances last season, before the close of the transfer window.

Fiorentina, who are managed by Roma legend Vincenzo Montella, finished two places behind their opponents in last season's table, but have not invested as heavily and may struggle to keep pace.

Bringing in Marko Marin on loan from Chelsea represents a smart piece of business and the attacking midfielder could be joined in debuting by Argentine World Cup centre-back Jose Maria Basanta.

Interest in Juan Cuadrado, who was linked heavily with Man United and Barcelona, has cooled of late and the Colombian winger should be named in midfield alongside ex-Roma midfielder David Pizarro.

Possible starting lineups

Roma: De Sanctis; Maicon, Astori, Castan, Cole; De Rossi, Pjanic; Iturbe, Totti, Gervinho; Destro

Fiorentina: Neto; Rodriguez, Savic, Basanta, Pasqual; Cuadrado, Acquilani Pizarro, Marin, Vargas; Gomez

Sports Mole says: 2-1