Atalanta Already Mulling Partying Ways with Newcomer

Mitchel Bakker hasn’t had a smooth transition to Serie A and hasn’t hit it off with Gian Piero Gasperini. The newcomer, who was supposed to starter on the left wing, quickly ceded the job to Matteo Ruggeri. He was excluded from the squad list for the Cagliari game due to a technical decision, Tuttomercatoweb informs.

La Dea spent €10M to acquire him from Bayer Leverkusen last summer. However, after a few practices and the boss’ assessment, they quickly started to search for a buyer. The same thing happened with Martin Skrtel a couple of years ago. He had joined as a free agent, so it was easier to part ways with him.

If things don’t change, Bakker will inevitably leave Atalanta in January. It’d be a repeat of what occurred with Simon Kjaer. The veteran defender joined in the summer of 2019, starred sparingly because he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the coach and left in the winter window.

Sead Kolasinac backed the teammate to bounce back during his introductory presser on Monday.

“It was easy for me to fit in because I had Igor Tudor at Marseille, who has a similar style. He’s new, and he’s on the right path to becoming part of the group.”

Our Take on Atalanta and Bakker

He’s not a world-beater, but Gasperini should give players a real chance before discarding them. They could have signed Fabiano Parisi or Carlos Augusto for a similar sum last summer.