Juric wants Lookman to maintain ‘positive attitude’ with Atalanta

Atalanta coach Ivan Juric hopes Ademola Lookman can ‘have a positive attitude’ going forward after accepting the failure of his desired transfer to Inter.

The striker went AWOL from training in pre-season as a protest after the club turned down the €40m plus add-ons proposal from Inter, feeling that he was worth at least €50m.

When nobody else came in with a bid of that size either, he was gradually reintroduced to the squad, but only after a few weeks of what Juric complained was the wrong attitude in training.

Now that he has played for Nigeria in their World Cup qualifier against Lesotho, Lookman should be getting back into shape.

“I hope that he will return from international duty with the same attitude that I saw in the last two or three weeks that he worked with us, where I had no complaints,” Juric told Sport Mediaset.

“It was a great attitude, really positive, and I want to make up for the time we lost over the summer. He is not yet at his best, but I hope to see the right spirit from him.”

Atalanta have been doing without both Lookman and injured Italy international Gianluca Scamacca, weakening their attacking prospects.

“Lookman was named African Player of the Year, so that says it all. The other day, he played in a position that was not his usual role for the first time, but he showed some good things and was only lacking a goal.”

There is another boost for Atalanta with the return of Scamacca from injury, while Nicola Zalewski and Giorgio Scalvini are also available again.

“We have a varied attack, everyone is waiting for Scamacca to get back to his best so we can have two strong centre-forwards. It’s going well so far, we can do better,” added Juric.

It has been a tough role taking over after nine years of Gian Piero Gasperini, as Atalanta were accustomed to a very specific methodology.

“I think we deserved more points than we have, which does hurt a little. I must do well to change some things, but not that balance that the team had.”