👀 Inter, all in for Lookman but... So many flops in Atalanta's sales 🫣

Inter Milan is not giving up on Ademola Lookman and has made an offer of 42+3 million euros, awaiting a response from Atalanta. A figure that would place Lookman in the top 5 most profitable sales in the history of the Dea.

A theme, in recent years, has always been the ability of champions to reinvent themselves outside of Bergamo: players often underestimated there became extremely functional pieces of Gasperini's game and then, once sold, did not meet expectations.

Will it be the case with Lookman too? It's impossible to predict, but let's see how the players from whom Atalanta has made the most money have fared away from Bergamo.

1. Rasmus Højlund (77.8 million to Man United)

The most profitable sale in Atalanta's history was that of Rasmus Højlund, who in July 2023, after only one season in Bergamo, joined Manchester United for a figure close to 78 million euros.

Huge profit for him, bought just twelve months earlier from Sturm Graz for 17 million. Thanks to the injury of Duván Zapata, the Dane secured a starting place in the team and was particularly noticed for a positive streak of four goals in as many matches.

Højlund has not fully convinced at United: in Manchester too he was noticed for some streaks of particular productivity (eight goals in eight matches in the first season, five in four in the second). If you don't count the two streaks, the player has only scored 13 goals in 83 matches played.

Not that there was a lack of commitment or the desire to sweat for the shirt, and certainly Højlund was not the best served forward in the Premier League. However, some positive periods may have led to overestimating his performance.

2. Mateo Retegui (68.25 million to Al-Qadsiah)

Obviously, it is too early to assess Mateo Retegui's performance after the sale, as the player has just arrived in Saudi Arabia and therefore has not yet had time to make an impact for Al-Qadsiah. However, he must be mentioned as the second most expensive outgoing transfer in Atalanta's history.

The Argentine naturalized Italian represented another great profit for the Dea: acquired for 25 million from Genoa in August 2024, he left after just one year for a figure of more than 40 million euros higher.

3. Teun Koopmeiners (58.4 million to Juventus)

Teun Koopmeiners fully represents the type of player who struggles to get going away from Bergamo: his year in bianconero was one of the biggest disappointments of the entire 2024/25 Serie A season.

Obviously, we don't even need to say it, it's another huge profit for the Dea: acquired from AZ Alkmaar in August 2021 for 12 million and sold in August 2024 for almost five times as much.

After three seasons in which he had established himself as the strongest midfielder in Serie A, in bianconero he struggled to find a place under Thiago Motta and was not able to fully recover even under Igor Tudor.

Too many tactical changes, difficulty in finding a consistent position on the field, a few too many injuries and fluctuating athletic conditions led Koopmeiners to be ineffective in front of goal and to be a "mystery object" of the Juventus season.

4. Cristian Romero (52 million to Tottenham)

Cristian Romero perhaps represents an exception in this list: he is the only one of these players to have decidedly established himself in the team he joined after Atalanta. 

The Argentine arrived in Bergamo in 2020 on a two-year loan from Juventus (4 million) and was bought back for 16+bonus. In London, where he arrived for over 50 million the following year, he became one of the pillars of the Spurs' defense, with which he won the 2024/25 Europa League being named the best player of the competition.

A level of performance that allowed Romero to be called up for the 2022 World Cup and therefore to be in the Argentine team that won the World Cup in Qatar.

5. Dejan Kulusevski (39 million to Juventus)

If Lookman's transfer to Inter does not materialize, the transfer of Dejan Kulusevski to Juventus for 39 million euros will remain the fifth most profitable sale in Atalanta's history.

Kulusevski arrived at Dea at youth level from Brommapojkarna, to play only three times in the first team, before establishing himself on loan at Parma in the 2019/2020 season and then being bought by Juventus.

The relationship with the Old Lady struggled to take off: he too paid for a certain tactical instability, being used as a winger, playmaker or second striker, only to see his role significantly downsized with the return of Massimiliano Allegri to the bench.

And Lookman? Will he move to Inter and manage to break the curse of Atalanta's big sales?

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

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