Atalanta line up ex-Juventus defender to replace Man City and Inter-linked Palestra

Italy international Marco Palestra continues to be linked with potential summer transfers to Inter and Manchester City, and the latest updates claim that selling club Atalanta have already identified their ideal replacement.

The 21-year-old Palestra has been one of the revelations of the 2025-26 Serie A season while on loan with Cagliari and earned his first appearances with the Italy national team as a result.

He is owned by Atalanta, but reports over the last few weeks claim that both Man City and Inter, where Palestra spent a year of his youth career, are keen to bring him on board ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

A move away from Atalanta is likely to come with a significant pay rise for Palestra, who reportedly earns just €280,000 per season on his current contract with La Dea.

According to reports from Calciomercato.com, Atalanta are well aware of the increasing interest in Palestra, and have already begun to line up potential replacements.

Thursday’s report claims that former Juventus full-back Nicolo Savona, who is well known to newly-appointed sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli.

Savona was sold to Nottingham Forest by Juventus last summer, after Giuntoli left the Bianconeri, for a fee of €13.5m plus €2.5m in bonuses and a 10% sell-on clause. The Next Gen graduate impressed during the first half of the Premier League season, but had his campaign curtailed by a knee injury, from which he is yet to fully recover.