Atalanta are one step away from acquiring Matteo Lovato from Verona. The defender was in high demand in January when Milan, Juventus, and Inter were after him. The buzz had subsided in the summer, up until the Bergamaschi made a swift move to purchase him. They will pay €8M and €3M add-ons, Gianluca Di Marzio reports.
Lovato joined Verona in January of 2020 for €1M. He was one of the early revelations of the past campaign, as he became a regular despite not having Serie A experience. He collected 24 appearances under Ivan Juric, who is a disciple of Gian Piero Gasperini. Verona will give 15 percent of the fee to Padova and Genoa as per previous agreements.
The acquisition of the 21-year-old defender is not necessarily tied to the departure of Cristian Romero, the transfer market expert adds. Atalanta have been trying to add depth in the back for the entirety of the off-season. They have long negotiated with Bologna for Takehiro Tomiyasu, failing to come to terms. Since they did not retain Mattia Caldara, they only have five options for the role. One of them, Bosko Sutalo, rarely appeared in 2020-21 and might leave on loan.
Atalanta remain in talks with Tottenham despite rejecting their previous bid. The two sides should have another meeting later this week, Di Marzio relays. If the sale did go through, they would target Merih Demiral and Sven Botman, who have expensive price tags. The fallback options are Genk’s Jhon Lucumi and Augsburg’s Felix Uduokhai, Tuttosport informs.