Atalanta have revealed that new signing Michele Canini has been on their transfer radar for some time.

The defender, who is actually a product of the club’s youth system, joined the outfit this week from Genoa in a swap deal with Thomas Manfredini.

“We’ve negotiated for Canini over the last two summers,” director general Pierpaolo Marino commented.

“In 2011 Cagliari didn’t even want to quote us a price as he was not for sale, while this year Genoa offered Cagliari more than we could.

“We’ve wanted him since I first arrived at this club and the idea was to always bring him back to Bergamo as that was also his desire.

“He’s even accepted a reduction in salary in order to play for us.”

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