Atalanta fully plan to activate their option to buy out Merih Demiral from Juventus. Missing out on Champions League will not change the intentions of La Dea, even though the price tag is sizeable. The Bianconeri do not expect him to return. The fact that they are looking around to find defenders makes it abundantly clear.
The Nerazzurri spent €3M for the season-long loan. They will give the Old Lady over €20M more to make the acquisition permanent, Goal reports. The Turkish center-back has been a day-one starter and has logged 39 appearances across all competitions, scoring twice.
Atalanta originally brought in Demiral to replace Cristian Romero, who transferred to Tottenham last summer. They do not plot to replicate the same move in the upcoming window. The 24-year-old has some suitors, but he will stay in Bergamo, barring really giant offers.
The center-back came off the bench in a pair of recent matches. However, the exclusions were not dictated by transfer market reasons or by Gian Piero Gasperini losing faith in him. Rather, the coach managed the minutes of the player because he was fasting during Ramadan, Tuttomercatoweb informs.
Juventus will make a small profit on Demiral, as they acquired him from Sassuolo for €20M and will re-sell him for a slightly superior fee to Atalanta. He did not manage to beat out the competition during his short stay in Turin. Moreover, he missed months because of a major knee injury. He featured in 32 matches in two seasons with the black-and-white jersey.