:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58525177/850267426.jpg.0.jpg)
A couple of days ago, Juventus director general Beppe Marotta had this to say about Riccardo Orsolini, who has spent the first half of the season on loan at Atalanta: “Riccardo Orsolini? He’ll stay at Atalanta.”
On the final day of January, that all has changed.
As has been rumored for the better part of the last two weeks, Orsolini has ended his season-long loan in Bergamo and has joined Bologna on loan until the end of the 2018-19 campaign, both Juventus and Bologna announced on Wednesday.
The official wording courtesy of Juventus’ website is as follows:
Forward Riccardo Orsolini (1997) will join Bologna on loan until June 30, 2019 with options for a return to Juventus or permanent sale to Bologna.
The Golden Boot winner at the U-20 World Cup, Orsolini originally came up through Ascoli’s youth academy and was previously on loan at Atalanta.
Bologna Fc 1909 are delighted to announce that Riccardo Orsolini has joined the club on loan from Juventus Fc. The player will be at the club until 30th June 2019 with the deal containing both an option clause and counter-option.
While Atalanta is renowned for developing young talent — get ready to say hello to Mattia Caldara, everybody — this move seems like it’s pretty much related to one thing and one thing only.
It’s the fact that Orsolini, through the first half of his first season in Serie A, has barely played at all. And Juventus has obviously realized that, and subsequently decided to move him to a club where he probably fits in better tactically — seriously, where was Orsolini going to play in Atalanta’s tried and trusted 3-5-2? — and get more playing time as a result.
Through Atalanta’s first 22 games of the Serie A season, Orsolini appeared in only eight of them and played a grand total of just 118 minutes, according to WhoScored. He also made a substitute appearance during the group stage of the Europa League.