Atalanta have officially announced the signing of central defender Odilon Kossounou on loan with an option to buy from Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen.
Official: Atalanta sign Kossounou from Leverkusen
La Dea have agreed to pay a fee in the region of €5.5m to bring the Ivorian in on loan for the season, and will have an option to make the move permanent for a further €25m. The buy clause is optional, and not an obligation.
“The Percassi family, the Pagliuca family and the entire club extends a warm welcome to Odilon, wishing him all the best in the Nerazzurri colours, both on a personal and team level,” the club wrote in an official statement.
The announcement of Kossounou’s signing came a few minutes after the news that Teun Koopmeiners has joined Juventus in a permanent transfer.
Kossounou becomes Atalanta’s 11th signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Rui Patricio, Juan Cuadrado, Raoul Bellanova, Lazar Samardzic, Marco Brescianini, Mateo Retegui, Nicolo Zaniolo, Ibrahim Sulemana, Ben Godfrey and Charles De Ketelaere.
An Ivory Coast international, Kossounou was also part of the Bayer Leverkusen went the entire Bundesliga season unbeaten under Xabi Alonso in 2023-24.
Leverkusen also won the DFB Pokal last term and were 90 minutes away from making it an historic treble, only for Atalanta to inflict a 3-0 defeat in the final thanks to a memorable Ademola Lookman hat-trick.
Kossounou è dell'Atalanta ⚫️🔵 Benvenuto a Bergamo, Odilon! 💪🏿🇨🇮
Kossounou is here! ⚫️🔵 Welcome to Bergamo, Odilon! 💪🏿🇨🇮
— Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) August 28, 2024