Ghanaian winger Kamaldeen Sulemana has completed a move to Atalanta Bergamo, winners of the 2024 UEFA Europa League.
The 23-year-old joins the Italian club from Southampton FC on a long-term deal after passing his medical tests successfully.
The transfer is worth €17.5 million, with an additional €4 million in performance-related bonuses.
This marks Sulemana’s first experience in Italian football, adding to his career journey that began at FC Nordsjaelland (Denmark) and continued at Stade Rennais (France) before his move to Southampton.
He joined Southampton in January 2023 for a club-record fee and went on to make 34 appearances, scoring five goals and providing two assists in the Premier League.
Although Southampton were relegated with just 12 points that season, Sulemana stood out with his speed, dribbling, and creativity, which caught the attention of Atalanta scouts.
Now reunited with his former Southampton coach Ivan Juric, Sulemana has the chance to revive his career in Serie A and compete in European football once again.
The talented winger has made 44 appearances (with 3 goals and 2 assists) in the Premier League, 34 appearances (with 5 goals and 2 assists) in Ligue 1, 25 appearances (with 3 assists) in the English Championship, 42 appearances (with 14 goals and 5 assists) in the Danish Superliga, as well as 4 appearances (with 2 assists) in the UEFA Europa League and 6 appearances (with 1 goal) in the UEFA Conference League. The new Nerazzurri signing, who can be used as an attacking winger but also as a second striker or attacking midfielder, is also a Ghanaian international.
Born in Techiman, Ghana, on February 15, 2002, he took his first steps in the world of football in the youth sector of his hometown, namely Techiman Liberty, and was then selected by the Right to Dream Academy, a renowned football school that trains the most promising young Africans.
His talent did not go unnoticed in Europe, so much so that in January 2020 – not yet of age – he arrived at the Danish club Nordsjælland, with whom he made his debut in the Danish Superliga a week after signing his first (five-year) professional contract on his 18th birthday.
In a season and a half with Nordsjælland he played 43 games in all competitions with a personal score of 14 goals and 5 assists.
In July 2021, he was bought by the French Ligue 1 team Rennes, with whom he collected 47 appearances, 6 goals and 4 assists-goals in a season and a half, in which he also made his debut in European cups, first in the UEFA Conference League and then, in the first part of the 2022/2023 season, also in the UEFA Europa League.
On 1 February 2023, he arrived in the Premier League, bought by Southampton, to whom he tied himself with a four-and-a-half-year contract, scoring his first English league goal in the 4-4 draw against Liverpool.
With Southampton, with whom he won the Championship play-offs at the end of the 2023/2024 season, he made a total of 74 appearances (4 goals and 7 assists), 30 of which (with 2 goals and 3 assists) last season, where he was coached in the Premier League by the new Atalanta manager, Ivan Jurić, resulting in the eighth player in the championship for number of completed dribbles and the third (per 100 touches) among the same role.
Kamaldeen has played 20 matches so far with the Ghana national team, his debut dates back to 9 October 2020 in the friendly against Mali.
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