It had been touted for quite some time, and now it’s all but official: Mario Pasalic will be staying at Atalanta for an extra year.
Gazzetta dello Sport carry the news on Friday, explaining that Chelsea and Luca Percassi, the Italian club’s CEO, agreed to extend the loan deal by 12 months, leaving the view to buy of €15m in the deal as it is.
For the first time since 2014, Pasalic will stay two years in the same organisation, normally used to jumping from league to league over the past five seasons and previously revealing his craving for some stability in his football career.
The 24-year-old will now get that, having settled nicely in Bergamo, where he is highly appreciated by his manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, who expressed his desire to keep the Croatia international around as early as December.
That was all the midfielder needed to make his mind up, and he continued having a good season, helping the Italian club finish third in Serie A, in turn qualifying for the Champions League group stages.
The hope will be for a repeat season, perhaps even a better one, at which point Atalanta will be in a position to make the deal permanent through a €15m clause that could end up looking like a bargain.
