ATALANTA have claimed that they promised to sell Ademola Lookman to clubs outside of Italy this summer, not to Serie A opponents like Inter Milan.
The Super Eagles forward had accused Atalanta of ‘broken promises’ after they rejected a €45m bid from Inter Milan for him last week.
In a long social media statement yesterday, Lookman confirmed that he had submitted a transfer request and expressed displeasure with the way Atalanta handled negotiations with Inter Milan despite their pledge to let him go if a suitable offer came.
The African Player of the Year said Atalanta were blocking his transfer to Inter “for reasons I do not understand”.
However, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the version of events given by Atalanta is rather different and would explain why they have been so reluctant to accept the Inter proposal.
The promise was made last summer, when Lookman asked to be left out of the squad for the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid because of interest from Paris Saint-Germain.
Importantly, the pledge was to let Lookman leave for a foreign club if the ambitious and lucrative bid was received, Atalanta claimed.
Atalanta would therefore have been more amenable if Lookman had tried to force his transfer to Arsenal, Chelsea or PSG, rather than their Serie A competitors Inter.
If they are to accept the move to Inter, it will need to be for the right price, a total of €50m rather than the current offer of €42m plus €3m in bonuses, according to Football Italia.