Atalanta have officially completed the loan signing of winger Nicolo Zaniolo, with the move expected to become permanent next summer. The 24-year-old spent the last season with Aston Villa, but returned to parent club Galatasaray earlier this month. La Dea had been in talks with the Turkish champions for several weeks, and confirmed the transfer with a statement on the clubs official website:
“Atalanta BC are glad to announce the signing, on loan until June 30 2025 with a buy-out option and an obligation to make the transfer permanent under certain conditions, of footballer Nicolò Zaniolo from Galatasaray SK. Thus far the 25-year-old forward has already accrued: 94 Serie A appearances (scoring 13 goals and providing 10 assists), 25 Premier League matches (netting 2 goals), 10 Süper Lig caps (bagging 5 goals), 8 Champions League games (scoring 2 goals), 10 Europa League matchups (3 goals and 4 assists) and 22 Conference League fixtures (with 7 goals and 3 key passes to his name), to which adding the 2 nets scored in 19 appearances for Italy’s senior team.
Born in Massa on July 2 1999, he moved his first footballing steps at the Maria Rosa in Salerno, a Salernitana Calcio-affiliated football school, where his father Igor, a former professional striker, used to play at the time. Then he went on to don the Academy shirts of the likes of Canaletto, Spezia, Genoa, Fiorentina and Virtus Entella, with whom he made his professional debut at barely 17 and where he played 7 Serie B games.
In the summer of 2017, he moved to Inter, where he imposed himself as the main figure of the Primavera team playing a key part in the victory of the Under-19s championship with 13 goals to his name while also shining in the UEFA Youth League. He then joined Roma, spending four-and-a-half-seasons at the Capitol club.
In his maiden season as a Giallorosso (2018-2019), Zaniolo won the title for best Lega Serie A youngster and, thanks to his brace scored against Porto in the quarter-finals first leg, became the youngest Italian footballer in the history of the Club to have bagged a multiple scoring in a European knockout game.
The 2021-2022 campaign saw Zaniolo hogging the spotlight in Roma’s UEFA Conference League triumph with 5 goals to his name, including the decider scored in the final against Feyenoord.
128 games, 24 goals and 18 assists in all competitions for the Capitol team later, Zaniolo joined Turkish outfit Galatasaray in February 2024, lifting the Turkish title at the end of the season and scoring 5 goals in 10 games.
In the summer of 2023, Galatasaray loaned Zaniolo out to Aston Villa, with whom he played 39 games and scored 3 goals in all competitions, reaching the UEFA Conference League semis in the process.
Zaniolo reached significant personal milestones also with the Italian National team(s): after collecting numerous appearances across the Under sides and the Under-19s Euro runner-up honours in 2018, former caretaker Roberto Mancini shortlisted him in September, even prior to his Serie A debut. Nicolò eventually made his Senior debut on March 23 2019 in the Euro Qualifier 2-0 victory over Finland.
On November 18 2019 Zaniolo scored his first goals for the Azzurri, bagging a brace in the 9-1 win over Armenia, thus becoming Roma’s youngest International scorer aged 20 years and 139 days.
The Percassi and Pagliuca families and the whole Club would like to extend a warm welcome to Nicolò Zaniolo and wish him the best of luck in his future personal and team endeavours as a Nerazzurro.”
