Marca reported Tuesday that Atlético de Madrid are inching closer to signing Atalanta midfielder Éderson before the summer window, when it is expected that the Brazil international will have suitors from the Premier League.
Sporting director Mateu Alemany has been in Italy this week to negotiate in person with Atalanta
president Antonio Percassi. Atlético have offered Éderson a multi-year contract between €4 and €5 million per season, and the club is willing to pay an initial €35 million plus another €5 million in bonuses to land the 26-year-old, who is entering the last year of his contract in 2026/27. But La Dea are said to be holding out for a fee closer to €50 million for their prized midfielder.
However, the good relationship between clubs — which has seen Juan Musso, Ademola Lookman, Matteo Ruggeri and Giacomo Raspadori all swap sides in the past 18 months — works in Atleti’s favor. Alemany is keen to close a deal fast for Éderson before Arsenal and other English clubs try to sign him from June.
“Now, through Alemany, it seems that everything points to the player’s arrival at the Metropolitano for next season,” David Medina writes. “Hence the ‘anti-Premier League’ plan.”
Éderson, who turns 27 in July, has been on the club’s shortlist since 2024, and Alemany attempted to sign him as part of a double swoop for Lookman in January. Though Atalanta agreed to negotiate for Lookman, Atlético were not able to pry Éderson free and instead opted to sign two young midfielders in Rodri Mendoza and Obed Vargas. It is possible that Éderson arrives to take Vargas’ place should the Mexico international go out on loan this summer.
A durable and well-rounded midfielder, Éderson won the UEFA Europa League with Lookman, Musso and Ruggeri in 2024. Éderson is closer in profile to a holding midfielder like Johnny Cardoso as opposed to an interior like Pablo Barrios: physically strong and defensively responsible, though he has scored 12 goals for Atalanta in Serie A since he joined from Salernitana in 2022.
Éderson is a strong passer whose ball progression should play well in Diego Simeone’s midfield, a group that is seeing its captain Koke age out of a regular role and needs a ready, willing vertical distributor with some press resistance in that line. I think Éderson is a good signing if Alemany gets it over the line, though the €40 million fee is high for a player entering the last 12 months of his contract.
