Interview I Journalist Alessandro Pagliarini: “Until club president changes his mind, Koopmeiners remains at Atalanta” | OneFootball

Whilst Atalanta remain very active within the market after sealing pair of forwards Nicolo Zaniolo and Mateo Retegui, central midfielder Marco Brescianini, wing-back Raoul Bellanova, and promising Serbian starlet Lazar Samardzic, La Dea are still keen on bolstering their squad further.

Hence, the Get Italian Football News team had Atalanta journalist Alessandro Pagliarini exclusively reveals the Nerazzurri’s late transfer window drama with eight days remaining until the window closes throughout an interview.

Pagliarini first commenced with discussing Atalanta’s heavy pursuit for Lens defender Kevin Danso:

“The main target for Atalanta’s defense was Danso, who seemed very close because the Nerazzurri had reached an agreement with the player who also communicated to his club that he wanted to leave.

“Except that Atalanta hasn’t reached a definitive agreement with Lens yet and is in a hurry to complete the team in a short time (the same reason why Wesley missed out, i.e. the deadlines were too long, so they closed Bellanova in 2 days) . Atalanta has no intention of holding an auction with Roma which would prolong the negotiations and effectively postpone his possible arrival.

“Furthermore, Gasperini would prefer the money to be invested in an attacking player and not a defender. The Mister wants an experienced central defender who knows Serie A who can immediately get into the mechanisms as happened with Retegui and Brescianini.

“This is why La Dea has turned to Becao: low cost, expert, knows Serie A and can close before Danso in terms of timing. Furthermore, Lens will probably use Danso tomorrow too, i.e. today Thursday in Europe.”

In addition, Pagliarini mentioned information on the potential departure of Ademola Lookman, following the forward’s request to not take part in the opening match as he seeks a departure:

“Atalanta only accepts offers of at least 60 million for Lookman. PSG seems to have now let go and it seems they won’t present offers because the distance is too high, the other big names in the Premier League have been following him for months (as I reported last June 27) but no one has made concrete offers. Bayern and Manchester United were there too interested in him, but again no offers.”

However, the Italian journalist reported earlier today that Lookman has resumed training with La Dea and his possibly nearing a stay despite a great deal of interest that surrounds the Nigerian international.

Moreover, Pagliarini touched upon the circumstances of Atalanta out-cast El Bilal Toure, whom coach Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are eager to offload:

“El Bilal will go to Stuttgart, the onerous loan negotiation with conditional redemption obligation has already been closed. Atalanta will have a clause on future resale“

Finally, Pagliarini revealed the reason why Dutchman Teun Koopmeiners’ highly anticipated move to Juventus has not been given the white smoke despite the Bianconeri having submitted a hefty offer of €52m plus €7m in add-ons:

“President Antonio Percassi and his son Luca, CEO of the club, do not want to sell him, especially to Juventus. Until they change their minds, Koopmeiners remains in Bergamo.”

Julian Faustini Ι GIFN