Atalanta acquire Duvan Zapata from Sampdoria

UC Sampdoria v Udinese Calcio - Serie A

Duvan Zapata is on the move again: Atalanta signed him from Sampdoria on a €14M two-year loan with €12M option to buy, which is just a gambit to water down the instalments. The Colombian spent just a year with the Blucerchiati, which paid €17M to have him from Napoli. The 27-year-old striker had offers from China, but opted to stay in Serie A.

It is an unusual signing for the Goddess, that usually prefer to bring in young and unknown prospects rather than already established players, but they had a smashing success with a similar acquisition last summer, Josip Ilicic from Fiorentina, and they are certainly hoping to replicate that.

Zapata was solid in 2017/2018, where he scored 11 goals in 31 appearances. However, he did have a little spat with Marco Giampaolo towards the end of the season when the coach started to give more minutes to Dawid Kownacki, cutting into his playing time. Perhaps the club was expecting a little more considering the rich investment, but his performances were aligned with what he did at Udinese.

Gian Piero Gasperini probably envisions Zapata as somebody who can conjugate the work-rate and the ability to combine with his teammates of Andrea Petagna with a better nose for the goal. The newcomer is also a freak from the physical standpoint. Considering the blossoming of Musa Barrow and the fact that they also like to deploy a light attack featuring Ilicic and Alejandro Gomez, at least one between Petagna and Andreas Cornelius is likely to leave.

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