Atalanta are willing to hold out on any future Juventus bids for midfielder Teun Koopmeiners and wait to see if any English clubs come sniffing for his services at a much higher price – most particularly, Liverpool.
Koopmeiners has been linked with a Liverpool move for some time, with reports earlier this week suggesting that new gaffer Arne Slot could help tip the balance in their favour amid rival interest from Juventus.
Slot knows fellow Dutchman Koopmeiners very well from their time together at AZ Alkmaar, with the goalscoring midfielder playing a key role in helping the club mount an unlikely title challenge in 2019/20 before the Eredivisie season was left unfinished thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
Koopmeiners claimed 16 goals and three assists in 42 appearances in all competitions that season, wearing the captain’s armband throughout despite being just 21 years old at the time.
That earned the Dutch international a move to Atalanta in 2021, by which time Slot had already left the club to take up the reins at Feyenoord – and it seems that the pair could be reunited at Anfield, if reports are to be believed.
As relayed by Sport Witness, Italian football journalist Emanuele Corazzi believes Liverpool hold another key advantage over Juve if they bid for Koopmeiners’ services, with Atalanta having already shown themselves to be willing to be patient about selling their better players.
The Italian club waited until late July before agreeing to sell Rasmus Hojlund to Manchester United last summer despite the Dane attracting interest from nearer afield. Premier League clubs generally wield more financial might than anybody else in the Italian marketplace, and that could be a decisive difference for Liverpool if a bidding war were to break out with Juve.
“Atalanta with Koopmeiners are doing exactly what they did with Hojlund,” Corazzi explained. “That is ‘Juve are interested, but let’s wait, let’s see what offers arrive’, because many English giants – Liverpool, above all – are so interested in Koopmeiners.
“Last year Hojlund had so many offers, Atalanta waited and then sold him to United for a huge sum. It’s a bit more difficult for Koopmeiners to go to Juventus should Liverpool come along.”
Liverpool got the chance to see Koopmeiners up close and personal last month as he played the full 90 minutes in both legs of Atalanta’s aggregate victory in the Europa League quarter-finals.
Atalanta have since gone on to dispense with Marseille in the semis, setting up a meeting with Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen in the final next Wednesday evening.
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