Atalanta market, Ademola Lookman leaves: Raffaele Palladino is dry

Atalanta soccer market: Ademola Lookman finally leaves Bergamo, but to move to Spain. After the endless summer soap opera about his transfer to Inter’s then never materialized and the winter speculation of his move to Fenerbahce and even Napoli, the Nigerian striker will join Atletico Madrid. Already on Sunday he boarded a plane destined for Madrid, then underwent medical examinations in the evening. In the same hours, however, the Nerazzurri were playing in Como, and Raffaele Palladino largely glossed over the’operation.

Marco Enzo Venturini

After ousting him from the squad for the away match in Como, Raffaele Palladino preferred to focus after the game on the 0-0 obtained in a very complex match. If anything, rather than commenting on Lookman’s departure, he spent a few more words on the players who were and remain at his disposal. Much more stringent was the talk about his Atalanta’s outgoing as well as incoming operations. “From the market I do not expect anything. We are fine as it is”, the Nerazzurri coach glossed over to the microphones of ‘DAZN’.

A completely different climate compared to what was in the air at’Atalanta on the eve of the Champions League trip to the field of the’Union Saint-Gilloise, which then resulted in a very disappointing defeat. “Lookman returned well to the team, I saw on his part the right spirit – Palladino said on that occasion -When a player returns to the team after taking part in the African Cup of Nations, he certainly needs to get his rhythm back. He, however, immediately made himself available to the group”.

On the sidelines of the hard-earned draw in Como, however, Palladino preferred to talk about something else: “This is a point earned, it is worth like a victory. But above all I liked the growth of the team”. Then, a jab at another symbol of Atalanta: “I saw Ederson again as we all know him. And it makes me angry, because he could always play like that”.

Lookman is expected to move to Atletico Madrid with a pharaonic 6 million euro a season salary. Atalanta, on the other hand, is expected to cash a 35 million check immediately, while another 5 million will eventually come to Bergamo if certain bonuses are triggered by the contract the two clubs will enter into. Before him, the clubs finalized the deals for Juan Musso, Matteo Ruggeri, and Giacomo Raspadori.