Atalanta enter race for Marko Grujic
Atalanta want Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic.
Local newspaper Corriere di Bergamo, via TuttomercatoWeb, reported that the Serie A team want the Serbian.
Hertha Berlin were first in the queue, said the newspaper, but the asking price of £15-20 million put them off.
Corriere di Bergamo wrote that Liverpool could be looking to follow in the footsteps of Chelsea, who loaned out Mario Pasalic for a number of years before eventually selling the Croatian to Atalanta for £13.50 million.
He never played a game for the Blues.
The situation with Marko Grujiic is a little different. He has featured for Liverpool and he was highly rated, but the club has evolved far quicker than the player and he has returned to Anfield to find a packed midfield.
Competition for places was already tough enough for the existing first team stars, and the Serbian has little chance of breaking through into a team that includes Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner.
What do you think? Should the Serbian move to Italy or are there better options out there? Get your fix of Liverpool transfer news by following this link.
His best option is to leave on a permanent deal, and thankfully he should have plenty of Anfield escape routes. Six teams were previously credited with interest in Grujic, so they should be able to find a buyer for the 24-year-old.
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Atalanta are one of Italy’s rising stars and nearly made it through the Champions League semi-final, only to be denied by Paris Saint-Germain at the last minute. They play a highly entertaining style of football and score a lot of goals.
If they can keep the core of their squad together, Grujic will be joining a side who are on the up and are destined for bigger things. He would have to battle for a position within the team, especially after the arrival of Pasalic.
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It would be easier for Grujic to make the step to find regular minutes first, especially at his age, but the romance surrounding Atalanta would be hard to ignore.