Atalanta were to send Merih Demiral back to Juventus at the end of his loan deal, but Fabrizio Romano claims that they have now decided to trigger his release clause.

The defender left the Old Lady due to a distinct lack of first-team football in previous seasons, despite the clear talent and strong attributes, but with all of Leo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Matthijs De Ligt in competition in recent seasons you can understand his situation.

He eventually left to join Atalanta on loan, and had endured a tough season with the Neroverdi, enjoying a bright start to the season before dropping off to miss out on the Champions League places.

All of the recent reports had claimed that we were set to see him return to the Allianz Stadium this summer, and were actively trying to find him a new club, but transfer insider Fabrizio Romano claims that they have now triggered their option to buy and have completed the signing.

Romano of course shared it with a previous post in which he claimed they were to trigger their option, but the recent reports from elsewhere had left us in limbo, and you have to wonder whether Atalanta had always planned to keep him beyond the summer and just wanted to keep us waiting.

Do you believe they simply wanted to slow down our transfer dealings this summer?

Patrick