Atalanta On the Verge of Completing Major Midfield Signing

Atalanta started talks with Udinese for Lazar Samardzic only a few days ago, and it didn’t take them long to strike an agreement. According to Fabrizio Romano, a decisive breakthrough came on Saturday, with the Serbian midfielder on the verge of joining La Dea.

Gian Piero Gasperini has grown tired of waiting for Celtic to relax their stance on Matt O’Riley. Instead, Atalanta and Udinese opened negotiations for Samardzic’s switch to the Gewiss Stadium during the week and almost instantaneously found common ground, with the former agreeing to pay a fee ‘in excess of €20m plus add-ons’ to sign Samardzic.

Barring another last-minute drama, the 22-year-old could become the new Atalanta player by Monday. New Udinese boss Kosta Runjaic omitted Samardzic from his matchday squad for the opening Serie A round as the Friulians head to Renato Dall’Ara to take on Bologna on Sunday afternoon.

The ex-RB Leipzig man should undergo his Atalanta medical later in the day before penning a contract at the Gewiss Stadium. After his move to Inter collapsed at the 11th hour a year ago, Samardzic emerged as a potential candidate to reinforce Milan’s midfield this summer. However, Atalanta have hijacked Rossoneri’s attempt to land the Serbian.

Samardzic’s wasn’t Gasperini’s first option. Yet, Atalanta couldn’t convince Celtic to sell O’Riley despite lodging four offers for the highly-rated midfielder. Samardzic is a decent fallback option, especially as he boasts a wealth of Serie A experience after three years at Udinese.