Atalanta have agreed a loan deal with Galatasaray over Nicoló Zaniolo today. The Italian attacking midfielder/winger spent last season in the Premier League with Aston Villa and is keen on moving forward with his career after his disappointing stint in England.

⚫️🔵🇮🇹 Atalanta will pay €6m loan fee (salary also included) to Galatasaray for Nicoló Zaniolo plu €14.5m buy option clause.

The buy option clause could become mandatory under certain conditions.

Medical tests booked on Thursday morning. pic.twitter.com/CvSQekjIm3

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 3, 2024

Tier one rated Football Park source Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that both clubs have come to an agreement of a loan move with the option to buy. Zaniolo will cost Atalanta €6 million for the loan and if they decide to trigger the option to buy it will cost them an extra €14.5 million. Romano also reports that his medical has been booked for Thursday morning and that the option to buy could potentially become mandatory if certain criteria are hit.

Last season he played a total of 40 games across all competitions for Midlands side Aston Villa, scoring only three goals in 1,363 minutes. Despite that poor record, he did have some positives at his time there. In the Premier League, per 90 minutes, he averaged 1.41 successful dribbles, 6.94 touches in the opposition penalty area, 6.51 duels won and 1.08 blocks.

Zaniolo first burst onto the scene in 2018 after joining Roma from Inter Milan as part of a swap deal with Radja Nainggolan and went on to win Seria A Young Player of the Season that year. Since then, he has struggled with injury problems, poor form and a lack of confidence. His unfortunate trait of getting himself injured has seen him miss 122 matches dating from the 2019/20 season onwards.

He then joined Galatasaray in the 2023 January transfer window and only played 12 games for the Turkish giants before being shipped off. He was starting to look like his former self there, scoring five goals and providing one assist in the short period of time he has spent in the Süper Lig.

Atalanta clearly still have good faith in the 25 year old and hope that he can return to the form he once showed in his early days in the Serie A. It won’t be easy for him as he’ll have to fight for the manager’s approval to cement himself in the starting 11, as La Dea have just recently signed Belgian talent Charles De Ketelaere on a permanent basis after an impressive loan spell at the club last season.

Can Zaniolo find his spark again and follow in De Ketelaere’s footsteps, securing himself a permanent as well? We will have to wait and see.