Man Utd and Liverpool battle for Serie A midfielder

Jacque Talbot

7 Apr 2024 17:30 BST
4 min read

Teun Koopmeiners, Ederson, Atalanta, 2023/24 — © IMAGO

Ederson is drawing attention from Manchester United and Liverpool ahead of the summer transfer window.

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The Atalanta midfielder joined the Serie A club two seasons ago from Salernitana and has flourished.

The 24-year-old has linked up well with Teun Koopmeiners, creating a frenzy of speculation around his future.

Mundo Deportivo reports that Liverpool, Man Utd, Newcastle, as well as Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, and Inter are all keen on the player.

Atalanta will play at Anfield in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final next week, so will be able to see the Brazilian in action. Ederson, who has made 28 league appearances for Atalanta this season, has so far scored five goals and provided one assist.

In the January window, Gianluca Di Marzio said Atalanta will look to resist any offers for the player.

While at the time Ederson told reporters in Italy: “This is normal when the transfer market opens, for some situations to come up. It happened in Brazil, it happened when I was at Salernitana.

“For me it's better this way, it means that I'm doing well and that there are many people watching me. It always happens with the market, but the most important thing is to do well at Atalanta and I'm doing very well here.”

Ederson is contracted at Atalanta until the summer of 2026 and it’s thought that a fee between £30m and £40m could tempt Atalanta into negotiations.

© IMAGO - Ederson could leave for around £30m

How good is Ederson?

Ederson first burst onto the scene in the second half of the 2021-22 season when he joined Atalanta from Corinthians in the closing days of the January transfer window.

At that time Salernitana seemed certain to be relegated but they sparked one of the greatest survival stories in Serie A history to save themselves. The addition of Ederson mid-season played a key role in that.

This earned him an immediate transfer in the summer of 2022 to Atalanta for €21 million.

Big things were expected of Ederson but he had a rather underwhelming first season in Bergamo, with just one goal and one assist as Atalanta finished fifth.

However, this season Ederson has lived up to his potential and taken a big step forward. He has been one of the best central midfielders in the league, indeed there is an argument to say that only Inter’s Hakan Calhanoglou has been superior in his position.

A box to box midfielder, Ederson has scored an impressive five goals in all competitions already this season. He has also provided one assist.