Juventus Tracking Atalanta Loanee After Summer Attempt | OneFootball

Marco Palestra has made a strong immediate impact at Cagliari, earning a regular role from the get-go, turning heads for his dynamism, and providing his first assist of the season versus Lecce. Juventus and Parma tried to acquire him last summer. Atalanta preferred loaning him out so he could play consistently, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs.

La Dea ended up trusting the Sardinians’ director Guido Angelozzi, who already wanted the player in the past. He was close to Frosinone. Gian Piero Gasperini decided to keep the starlet to see what they had in him. He didn’t play a lot last season, also because of a significant thigh problem.

Ivan Juric didn’t oppose the transfer of Palestra this time around. Atalanta ruled it was too early to cash him on him. Parma were ready to invest and Juventus were considering tabling a €20M offer while the future of Andrea Cambiaso seemed in doubt amid Manchester City’s courtship.

The valuation is easily bound to rise if he fares well all season long. The Bergamaschi plot to lean on him for at least a year before making the call on his future.

Our Take on Palestra

He couldn’t have had a better start, and, while he’s been touted for a couple of years, it would have been risky for a big team to shell out the big bucks for an unproven youngster who had mostly featured in Serie C. Still, that’s the courage Italian teams often lack. While Atalanta have a strong contributor in the same role, Raoul Bellanova, it’s a little odd that they didn’t keep him and tried to make them co-exist.