With the culmination of the Euros and Copa America last weekend – congratulations to Pessina, Toloi, Romero, and Musso! – the hangover effect feels real. How do we get to August 22nd without any competitive football? Sure we’ll have some friendlies and the ever important Audi Cup gives us something to watch, but honestly I’d rather watch Seinfeld reruns for the umpteenth time instead of Benfica and Chivas play in Houston or some other random American location.
Instead, give us some team and transfer news! We desperately need some new signing announcements to get us up out of our seats and throw some coal into the hype train. Juan Musso was done and dusted almost as soon as the initial story broke, but we haven’t heard anything else in weeks. Now that there’s no international competitions for teams to use as an excuse, hopefully that means the signings get come fast and furious.
Let’s take a quick look at what I hopefully want to see coming out of Bergamo and Zingonia in the coming weeks.
Teun and Tommaso Potential Signings
Nothing’s come out of the Koopmeiners camp in weeks, and even the Pobega camp has seemingly gone quiet since the start of July. Atalanta still needs to sign a midfielder to cover for de Roon’s four game suspension, and more importantly as depth throughout the grueling season. Koopmeiners obviously has to be the preferred option, but is it greedy to ask for both? Potentially spending 30M+ combined for the combo may not be fiscally responsible, but if Ilicic can be packaged up in a Pobega deal, you wouldn’t have to twist my arm to get me to take a flyer on Tommaso for that price. However (more to come), it wouldn’t be difficult to see the possibility of the Slovenian staying in Bergamo to start the season.
Malinovskyi Injury
Atalanta was fortunate to come away with minimal player knocks this summer. Cuti Romero may have some nagging muscle injuries to overcome, but the main injury was Ruslan Malinovskyi’s hernia. He has already had surgery, and shouldn’t miss too much time to begin the year, but it does bring into question Atalanta’s early-season attack. Aleksey Miranchuk has to be the sensible option to fill in for Malinovskyi, but does Atalanta look to make any moves to solidify the attack? It seems foolish to do so for so few games, especially with the sufficient secondary attacking options up front.
Nonetheless, Jeremie Boga rumors in the French media are at least rumbling again (apparently Atalanta have had an offer rejected by Sassuolo). I’m tepid on Boga, especially at a 25M price tag – so I’m hoping Atalanta doesn’t bend to meet that offer. On the other hand, Atalanta could still rely on the aforementioned Josip Ilicic for another season. It feels less a guarantee that he is scheduled to depart, with Milan being the only realistic option for him. Ilicic had a very polarizing year, but he still has quality on his day – maybe it isn’t the worst idea to keep him to start the year, and perhaps a more robust market comes available in January.
Tomiyasu Shrugs Off Atalanta
Takehiro Tomiyasu, after apparently agreeing to personal terms with Atalanta, looks to prefer going to Tottenham (why? no one will ever know). While Atalanta has been linked to numerous other center backs options, including: Botman, Amedhozic, Lucumi, and Lovato – no rumors have recently boiled to the surface. Atalanta still needs another CB option, and preferably one that would have had the defensive flexibility of Tomiyasu. A shame this one looks unlikely to get done, but at least there’s still some options for La Dea to explore at centerback.
Perhaps Sportiello Stays
Details are emerging now that Marco Carnesecchi is back off to Cremonese on loan for the year; thus, signaling that Atalanta is not prepared to have the youngster be Juan Musso’s backup. That leaves one of either Pierluigi Gollini or Marco Sportiello to be second in line this season. I have a difficult time seeing Gollini being happy as the backup, making it more likely that Sportiello stays another year in black and blue. Transfer rumors have been at least lukewarm regarding Gollini, who has had ties to Everton and Tottenham. Given we’d be able to pick up, let’s say, 9-12M on the market – departing with Gollorious probably makes the most sense with Musso being a legit number one.
Not a Transfer, But Should Maehle Start?
After Joakim Maehle’s excellent Euros demonstration, does he deserve any consideration to be a starter over Hans Hateboer? Maehle was dynamite going forward for Denmark, on his weaker left footed side, so much so that he was named in the Euros Starting XI of the tournament. He can contribute more offensively than “two-meter-first-touch-Hateboer,” and I think his defense will continue to improve with time in the system.
I think it’s worth the discussion, but ultimately Maehle feels much more valuable as a super utility option to spell both Gosens and Hateboer. Defensive flexibility on the wings is essential, and Maehle is the only one who can cover both wings effectively.
We’ve got a look to look forward to over the next couple weeks, and hopefully the club sorts out its transfers sooner rather than later. With the club already starting training on Monday, getting everyone situated with the club should be of the upmost importance to everyone involved. Here’s to this week and next week being wild on the transfer front, and the team finally starting to take some form. Or at least just a Koopmeiners rumor, gotta give us something to latch onto!
