Marten De Roon confessed he has been working on a return to Atalanta since February, having only joined Middlesbrough in July 2016.
The midfielder was sold for €10.5m and made a comeback last week for a reported €13.5m.
“I started thinking of a return to Bergamo in February,” the Dutchman told the Corriere di Bergamo newspaper.
“I always stayed in contact with the staff and director Luca Percassi. I wanted to come back and we started talking about it.
Marten De Roon confessed he has been working on a return to Atalanta since February, having only joined Middlesbrough in July 2016.
The midfielder was sold for €10.5m and made a comeback last week for a reported €13.5m.
“I started thinking of a return to Bergamo in February,” the Dutchman told the Corriere di Bergamo newspaper.
“I always stayed in contact with the staff and director Luca Percassi. I wanted to come back and we started talking about it.
“I met up with Papu Gomez in Ibiza and confessed to him my desire to return. I always thought about Atalanta.
“I really appreciate their mentality here, which is very similar to the Dutch approach, based on hard work.”