Atalanta’s first market move has been made. Working under the radar, as usual, the Nerazzurri management has closed the first purchase of the summer market by bringing to Bergamo the 26-year-old British central defender Benjamin Matthew Godfrey, bought from Everton for 10 million plus two in future bonuses.
Coup made by Luca Percassi and sporting director Tony D’Amico, who on the eve of the official opening of the transfer window have already given Gian Piero Gasperini his first real reinforcement, filling the hole that had opened in defense with the serious injury of Giorgio Scalvini and the farewell of the veteran Palomino.
Ben Godfrey, capped twice for Southgate’s England, is a flexible central defender capable of playing on the lateral side, covering two roles, and is suited to playing both in the traditional Gasperinian three-man defense and in a four-man formation, but Everton was also deployed as a midfielder.
Born in 1998, 188cm cuirassier, who grew up in the youth sectors of York City and Middlesbrough (when De Roon played in the first team), then at Norwich with whom he took off as a professional before arriving at Everton in 2020 with whom he played 67 games with 16 tokens last season.
The English player landed yesterday morning at Linate to undergo the traditional medical checks at the Madonnina clinic in Milan, then in the afternoon he transferred to the Nerazzurri headquarters in Zingonia to sign the contract and make his first visit to the Atalanta citadel where he will train from the July 10 meeting. Godfrey’s arrival does not preclude the addition of another defender to complete a back line with Djimsiti, Kolasinac, Hien, Toloi and the returning Scalvini from February.
The Nerazzurri remain interested in the 19-year-old Juventus player Dean Huijsen, who could arrive as a counterpart in the case of Teun Koopmeiners’ transfer to Juventus. Outgoing contacts underway with Betis Sevilla interested in Dutch winger Mitch Bakker: possible agreement on 8 million.
