It's really hard to rate this mercato because of just how many changes were made. We lost 3 integral starters from last years team in Vidal, Tevez, Pirlo, plus 3 bench players in Llorente, Storari, Coman. And we brought in a large number of new players. I don't recall a mercato this busy for us in years. Perhaps 2011, when the Conte era started... I still think we should have told Vidal we won't sell unless we find a top AM or replacement CM for him first. Perhaps that would have put more pressure on Bayern to make Götze available, who knows.
My problem with the mercato is it creates far too many "ifs"... And you want to minimize those whenever possible. That's why slow transitions are much better. We went a little far in the totally transform the team direction. It was coming, but I would have preferred to limit it to Tevez and Pirlo this summer, and then perhaps Vidal and Barza next summer. Hopefully Rugani is the Barza replacement and we have that dealt with already.
The mercato could end up being a 10. Or a 1. Unlikely for either of those. So I think anywhere from 4-6 fits best at the moment because we lost guarantees and replaced them potentially top signings for the most part. SO I gave it a 5 for now, in hopes that over the long run it turns out much much better. I'm a little worried about the next 3 months, but I think the team should have an excellent season post winter-break. I think 2nd should be a guarantee, I only hope that the settling-in and gelling period isn't too slow as it could put a major dent in our scudetto hopes, as well CL knockout qualification. I'll be okay with CL Rof16 and 2nd place in Serie A this year. And happy with Scudetto + QFs.