In one of the most obvious situations to exercise an option to buy, Duvan Zapata officially joins Atalanta from Sampdoria as a permanent member after paying the $14M Euro buyout. After shuffling along in Serie A with Napoli and Udinese, Zapata finally hit his stride with La Dea, making his presence felt in a big way last year by banging in 23 Serie A goals, 2nd in the competition.
This signing is more momentous to me, as Zapata was the original reason I began to follow the club. To see him stay here on a permanent basis is thrilling to me, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for him going forward.
For now he’s saying the right things: from football-italia.net-
“First of all, I want to thank Atalanta for this latest show of confidence in me. I’ve been welcomed so well in Bergamo since the first day, we are building something important here and can achieve great things together.”
The nature of football is for the best players to eventually arrive on the top teams or at least in the top leagues. It’s encouraging to hear these remarks, and its a positive sign that he seems to want to honor his commitment and hopefully stay through his prime under the coach and system that unleashed his true potential (he’s not just a target man!) But for now he’s ours, and I’m thrilled to what the future holds with him leading the attack for Atalanta. Forza Atalanta, y obviamente Forza Duvan!
