The rumor has been swirling for awhile, but Atalanta finally got their guy. Aleksey Miranchuk will be donning the blue and black this coming season, hoping to move himself up the pecking order of cheeky and slippery left footed attackers. At 14.5M Euros, anyway you look at it bringing the Russian into the Atalanta’s attack was a tidy piece of business. His style is eerily similar to our current in-house skinny lefty in Josip Ilicic, plus he brings youth, Champion’s League experience, and an action plan to eventually live life without Ilicic who can’t play forever (actually if anyone could do his thing until he was 40, it would be Ilicic, but that’s beside the point).
It’s still stunning that Atalanta were able to wrangle him in for 14.5M euros, OVER 20M less that what they sold Kulusevski to Juventus for last winter (a very similar player with not that huge an age gap). Again its a testament to Atalanta not being afraid to go into uncharted waters to acquire useful and hopefully relevant pieces for their continued success. Looking more at Russian players, its unreal how many of them actually leave the Russian League. Whether its due to scouts avoiding Russia, the wages average players are able to demand due to 6+5 rule (where at least five Russians must be on the pitch at a time during a match), or a combination of a bunch of things, Russian players seem to rarely venture outside to test their skill on a larger stage.
Of the 27 Russian players currently valued over $5M on transfermarkt.com, Miranchuk will become only the 3rd player to play outside his native homeland (Valencia’s Cheryshev [we know him well!] and Monaco’s Golovin are the other two). For a country so large in which athletics are such a key component of culture, and with a national team that is decent and holds its own in international tournaments, it really does seem to be an untapped market where gems can be found. For Atalanta’s sake, let’s hope Miranchuk is that gem! With Ilicic out until November, he should get his opportunity pretty soon (if Gasp doesn’t opt for Malinovskyi/Pasalic combo) to show off his chops, and confirm that he belongs in Serie A. For some reason I have a hunch that he’ll get along just fine. Welcome Aleksey, and all the best in your new Italian venture!
