The sales of Stankovic and Buchanan add to the coffers that the Nerazzurri will invest to convince Atalanta: the offer rises to 43 million excluding bonuses

There are no Leoni to hold them back: the king of the Inter transfer market is Ademola Lookman. He is so important that the Nerazzurri club has decided to give up on the Parma defender. It goes without saying that all the efforts of president Beppe Marotta, sporting director Piero Ausilio, and owner Oaktree, who gave the green light to the deal, will now focus on the Nigerian striker from Atalanta. The goal is to close the deal without the summer negotiations turning into an endless soap opera that drags on until the start of the championship. Inter are preparing to make a move for the man who can bring more goals and unpredictability to Chivu’s attack.
The days marked on the calendar are those that will open next week: on Tuesday, or Wednesday at the latest, the Nerazzurri executives in Milan will meet with their counterparts in Bergamo and try to speed up the negotiations. It is easy to imagine what the next step will be: Inter are ready to revise their initial offer of $40 million, which Atalanta had declined because their valuation is significantly higher, reaching $50 million. At this stage, Inter are willing to add another $3 million to the fixed part of the offer and then work on bonuses, convinced that the player’s desire to join the club could play a decisive role in this deal. And Lookman’s desire is clear: Ademola has chosen Inter and is not willing to consider alternative options. He has reached an agreement with the Nerazzurri on a five-year deal worth $4.5 million per season, which could rise to $5 million over the years, and the Nigerian is willing to do anything to join Lautaro and Thuram in Inter’s attack. First and foremost, he is refusing even richer offers, such as the one made by Napoli, and closing the door on big foreign clubs, such as Atletico Madrid (despite wanting to move abroad to PSG a year ago). If diplomacy is not enough (Lookman, currently out with injury, is undergoing treatment in Zingonia and has chosen a soft approach), it cannot be ruled out that the player may break ranks. But this is not the path that the parties involved intend to take: the new contact between Inter and Atalanta, after the recent clarification of their positions, will also be important for this reason. Certainly, the terms of the deal will also need to be reconsidered: the loan with an obligation to buy initially proposed by Inter has fallen through because Atalanta wants a permanent transfer. The most viable option, then, could be a payment spread over several financial years.

leoni stop—  What is certain is that Inter are working to move closer to their big goal: the transfers already completed, namely Stankovic and Buchanan, have brought in almost $20 million, and the next ones, from Taremi to Sebastiano Esposito to Asllani (the most difficult case among the names leaving), could increase the war chest to be reinvested. But the withdrawal from the race for Leoni marks a significant shift: looking at the deal in perspective, with a broader horizon, Inter will be able to move with a significant financial reserve, considering that at least thirty million would have been needed for Parma’s 2006-born gem. The slowdown on Leoni, in any case, does not close the door on a defensive reinforcement to be finalized after the possible failure of the Lookman deal. Ausilio still has the name of Genoa’s Koni De Winter circled in his notebook, a 23-year-old with great talent and 68 Serie A appearances under his belt.