Reports linking £18 million Atalanta starlet Giorgi Scalvini with a move to Premier League champions Manchester City are ‘premature’, the Italy international’s agent Fausto Pari tells Tuttomercaotweb.
Much has been made of Napoli’s emergence as potential Scudetto favourites under Luciano Spalletti; a new-look and much-changed team confounding expectations and making those summer protests feel distinctly misplaced.
But just one place and two points behind Napoli are Atalanta. An Atalanta side who, following three successive third-place finishes, ended up eighth last term, their time amongst Italy’s elite apparently coming to an end.
Thanks to Gian Piero Gasperini’s more-defensively-minded gameplan, and the emergence of talented youngsters such as 18-year-old Scalvini however, another Champions League charge – and potentially even a Scudetto bid – may be on the cards for La Dea.
Scalvini, a centre-half by trade, has been a revelation the heart of Gasperini’s midfield; scoring a long-range winner away from home at Roma while emerging as a transfer target for the likes of Atletico Madrid and Manchester City (Gazzetta dello Sport).
The teenager’s agent, however, insists that it is too soon to talk about Scalvini joining Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland and co at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City are fans of Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini
“Scalvini? Far be it from him to think about going away,” Peri says. “He is not nineteen yet. He wants to grow. He’s also gaining new experiences in midfield. He’s available to the coach to improve.
“He’ll go to Atalanta and decide what to do, in the eventuality (that Man City come calling). At the moment, everything is very premature. He must feel comfortable, train, commit himself, give everything he has on the pitch.”
6ft 4ins Scalvini, earlier this month, played down those Manchester City links, while expressing his admiration for Chelsea stalwart Thiago Silva
“He was born a defender. He also admitted that,” Peri adds. “But it is clear that he has the technical qualities to play other roles.
“Last year, (against Lazio) he was employed as a midfielder to face (Sergej) Milinkovic-Savic because they have a similar structure. Scalvini is versatile, he can play in several roles.”
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