Atalanta CEO, Luca Percassi, has revealed the Italian club will put themselves first as regards the potential exits of Ademola Lookman and Teun Koopmeiners, Soccernet.ng reports.
The duo were instrumental to Atalanta’s UEFA Europa League triumph last season, with Lookman scoring a hat-trick against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the final.
Koopmeiners opted to stay out of La Dea’s team ahead of their UEFA Super Cup clash against Real Madrid amidst interest from Juventus, and a few days ago, Ademola Lookman opted to do the same, opting out of Atalanta’s league game against Lecce.
Perassi, furious about the decision made by both players, has revealed that the club will move forward by putting themselves first despite the sentiments of both players.
“I always reaffirm what my father says: we are Atalanta. We must retain our identity and have clear objectives. It is also true that last season, for the first time, the coach, club and directors aimed to keep all the big players who were the protagonists of an extraordinary campaign with Atalanta. That was the idea, to confirm all our first-choice players. We were aware there could be turbulence in the transfer market. We didn’t expect certain things to happen, but the club is prepared to invest if there are opportunities, then we are prepared to take them, and we’ll see what happens over the next few days,” the Italian said in quotes revealed by Sky Sports Italia.
Additionally, the former Chelsea man admitted the club were prepared not to let their big stars go this summer, but with the rebellion they’ve put up, they might not have much of a choice.
“We are very relaxed because our idea, shared by coach, club and owners, was for the first time in our history not to let these important players go. We, as a club, have always respected our commitments, and we cannot wait for this transfer window to close. All players belong to Atalanta, and the club will decide what to do for the good of this team. Unfortunately, too often, these lads are given bad advice. The fact that the transfer market is open when games are played frankly makes it feel infinite. We had tried to regulate the timing of these things over the summer, but it was impossible because the Saudi Arabian leagues wanted an extension. I feel this needs to be regulated better,” the ex-Milan defender concluded.
According to Football Italia, Atalanta want at least €40m to sell Lookman, but are extremely irritated with Paris Saint-Germain approaching the player first, offering to more than double his salary, proposing a contract worth €4.5m per season, more than doubling his current salary of €1.8m per annum.