Nikola Krstovic, Atalanta officiates Mateo Retegui’s replacement
Wednesday evening Atalanta made official a new purchase: “After Kossounou, Kamaldeen Sulemana, Ahanor, Sportiello and Zalewski, Nikola Krstovic is the sixth outright purchase of Atalanta BC in the current summer session of the transfer campaign”.
“The Nerazzurri club has acquired the right to his sporting services from US Lecce– we read -. The Montenegrin center forward born in 2000, who chose 90 as his jersey number, already has two Serie A championships behind him and was decisive last season in achieving Lecce’s salvation with 11 goals and 5 assist-goals, more than half of the Salento team’s overall score. His experience also includes 14 matches in European club competitions, including 3 in the UEFA Champions League preliminaries and as many (with 1 goal) in the UEFA Europa League preliminaries, plus 5 goals in 8 UEFA Conference League qualifying matches. Personal accolades include two top scorer titles first in the Montenegrin league and then in the Slovak league. Six goals (with two assists) in the so far 27 appearances with the Montenegrin national team, in which he made his debut on March 28, 2022 against Greece“.
“Football-trained in the youth sector of Zeta of Golubovci, a club in his hometown, he made his first-team debut, just 16 years old, on April 23, 2016 in the 1-1 draw against Iskra Danilovgrad. On March 11, 2017, he signed his first goals in the Montenegrin top division by netting a brace in the victorious 3-0 match against Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje. In the following season, still with Zeta from Golubovci, he scored 13 goals, further improving in the 2018/19 championship, in which he became the top scorer in the Montenegrin tournament with 17 goals in 33 appearances”.
“During the summer of 2019, he moved to Red Star Belgrade before being transferred on loan to Grafičar Belgrade. He returned to Red Star in the 2020/21 season and won both the Serbian championship and the national cup, in which he scored a goal in the quarterfinals and converted one of the penalty kicks in the final against Partizan. In the 2021-2023 two-year period, he plays in the Slovakian top division, more specifically in DAC Dunajská Streda, graduating top scorer of the Slovakian league in the 2022/23 season with 18 goals in 27 appearances.
“In late summer 2023 he landed in Italy and in Serie A, bought by Lecce. He makes his appearance in the top Italian league with 3 goals in his first three league games, going on goal against Fiorentina, Salernitana and Monza, respectively. During this season he is elected Montenegrin footballer of the year. On January 11, 2025, he scored his first double in Serie A in the victorious away match at Empoli. He ends his two-year stint in Salento with a personal score of 20 goals and 7 assists-goals in 75 appearances in all competitions. The Percassi family, the Pagliuca family and the whole Nerazzurri club extend a warm welcome to Nikola, wishing him the best satisfactions – both personal and team – in the Nerazzurri jersey” ends the note.
