Atalanta CEO Luca Percassi was stern while addressing the rumors about Teun Koopmeiners, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the deal with Juventus is off, Alfredo Pedullà reports. The exec spoke up during Ben Godfrey’s presentation.
“We have never included his sale in our plans. He’s a key player for our club.”
La Dea is irked by the fact that the Bianconeri came to terms with the player first before the two teams were even close to concurring on a fee. More, the Old Lady poked around Celtic Glasgow’s Matt O’Riley, who’s their top target to eventually replace the Dutchman.
Atalanta surely won’t make any discount, and Juventus will have to come close to the €60M threshold to sign Koopmeiners. They could use some bonuses to reach it, while there’s no traction about the insertion of a makeweight.
The negotiation between the two teams has truly yet to start because the Turin-based outfit wants to raise more money before tabling their offer. Coach Thiago Motta considers the midfield star central to his project.
Our Take on Atalanta, Juventus, and Koopmeiners
Percassi sounded harsh but didn’t really state they wouldn’t sell him, only that they didn’t need to foot their reinforcement campaign. They had similar stances about other players in the past, especially Ramus Hojlund, but they pulled the trigger once the bid matched or even exceeded their valuation. The real sticking point is what that amount would be in this case and whether it’d be savvy for the Bianconeri to make such a large splash rather than use the cash for multiple additions.
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