Atalanta have opened the door for Nottingham Forest to bring Andrea Pinamonti to the Premier League with the Serie A outfit ruling out a deal for the Inter Milan striker, CEO Luca Percassi tells Tuttomercatoweb.
Nottingham Forest might have spent over £70 million on 12 new faces this summer but Steve Cooper’s play-off winners still look a little short in attack.
Yes Taiwo Awoniyi arrived in a club-record £17 million after a stellar spell in the Bundesliga. But, beyond him, Forest have just Sam Surridge and Lyle Taylor on their books, with Lewis Grabban leaving on a free transfer and Keinan Davis now back at Aston Villa.
So there is certainly space for Pinamonti at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest plan Inter Milan raid
According to Corriere dello Sport, Nottingham Forest have approached Inter Milan to enquire about the 21-year-old’s availability. And, after retaining Lautaro Martinez while re-signing Romelu Lukaku, the Nerazzurri are unlikely to stand in Pinamonti’s way.
So long as Forest are willing to meet their £16 million asking price, that is.
Inter’s Serie A rivals Atalanta have spent much of the summer being linked with the rangy, Italy U21 international. But while La Dea are planning to make an imminent splash in the market, Pinamonti will not be arriving in Bergamo any time soon.
‘As always in football, there are many operations. Until they are done, they can’t be announced. Something should happen in the next few hours,” explains Percassi, Atalanta’s CEO.
“Will something happen with Pinamonti? No. He is a good player, but Atalanta has many forwards. We have (Aleksei) Miranchuk, (Mauro) Pasalic, (Duvan) Zapata and (Luis) Muriel.
“Let’s see what will happen, but we must always take into consideration the depth of the squad.”
Atalanta out of contention
Pinamonti, a 6ft 1ins centre-forward with a penchant for intelligent, first-time finishes inside the penalty area, scored an impressive 13 goals on loan at bottom-half Empoli last season.
“I would like to name Andrea Pinamonti,” former Inter boss Antonio Conte said while discussing the Inter players who had improved the most under his management.
“He’s grown so much. He knows it’s not easy to have Lukaku, Lautaro and (Alexis) Sanchez ahead of him, but he has some great characteristics and is an excellent prospect.
“He has to keep working like this and can make us talk about him in future.”
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