Atalanta Refused to Name Their Price for Lookman

The Ademola Lookman saga dominated the headlines for about a month during the summer, as Inter tried to convince Atalanta to sell, while the star pushed to leave. La Dea held firm despite the pressure, and the other Nerazzurri eventually moved on and addressed other roles.

The Bergamaschi actually never budged from their initial position, Fabrizio Romano reported to “La Trattativa” on TIM Podcast (via SOSFanta). They refused an opening €42M offer, plus €3M add-ons. They never countered with their own price tag and refused again after a €45M bid in late July.

In the Ademola talks, Atalanta acted like some foreign clubs, for instance, Brighton, listening to all proposals but without making a proper demand, so they could decline the raises without reneging on their word.

In addition, the Orobici were probably irked that Giuseppe Marotta spoke openly about the chase, oozing optimism. The deal had indeed a lot of momentum in the early stages of the negotiation. The ace wanted the transfer, and his camp did everything it could to force his way out, including issuing a public statement.

It didn’t work, and the attacker, after an impromptu vacation for which he was fined, reported back and eventually resumed playing. He has appeared five times so far, generally faring well even though he has yet to score.

Our Take on Atalanta, Inter, and Lookman

It was an unusual turn of events in this players’ empowerment era and in La Dea’s history, which has had their fair share of unwanted exits, most recently Mateo Retegui and Teun Koopmeiners. Their brass evidently wanted to send a signal and sensed that the star would eventually back off from his rigid stance.