Inter Milan is reportedly preparing to offer €46 million plus a young player to convince Atalanta to sell Nigerian attacker Ademola Lookman.
According to the Corriere dello Sport on Tuesday night, Lookman has left Bergamo, with Inter preparing to make the offer €46m very soon.
“The situation has deteriorated beyond repair and after two days of not turning up to training as scheduled, he is seemingly taking more steps to prove it’s over with Atalanta,” the report read.
The Corriere dello Sport editor, Ivan Zazzaroni added that Lookman has left the city of Bergamo and nobody knows where he is at the moment, except for his agent.
The situation has forced Atalanta to deal directly with the representative of the Super Eagles forward and they can have no talks with the player himself, as he has gone on strike.
Lookman decided to go away without official leave (AWOL) after Atalanta rejected Inter’s latest bid reportedly worth €45 million for the Nigerian international.
According to Football Italia, Inter offered €42m plus €3m in add-ons for Lookman but Atalanta turned it down as they want the full €50m asking price with a deadline looming.
“There was a long-awaited meeting between the two clubs to discuss the terms and see if they could reach an agreement,” Football Italia reported.
“A new written proposal was sent across, after the original €40m offer was rejected, and this one was worth €42m plus €3m in bonuses.
“As expected, this too was considered insufficient and therefore rejected. We have said from the start of this process that the asking price is €50m, but that Atalanta would be prepared to accept €45m plus €5m in add-ons.”
It remains to be seen if Inter will table an increased bid for Lookman who has already submitted a transfer request to Atalanta.
Lookman bagged 20 goals and seven assists from 40 appearances across all competitions in the 2024/25 campaign.
He had reached a tally of 17 goals and 10 assists in 2023-24, a season that won him the African Player of the Year award.
