Atalanta BC have entered the race to sign Zaidu Sanusi from FC Porto this summer, with the Bergamo club making preliminary enquiries about the Super Eagles left-back as Porto weigh up whether to sell now or risk losing him for free when his contract expires in 2027.
Sanusi joined Porto from Santa Clara in 2020 and has made 154 appearances for the club across all competitions in the six years since. His 2025-26 season brought 26 appearances and a Portuguese league title, but no contract extension has been agreed, leaving him in the final year of his current deal. Porto’s position, according to reports from French football outlet Africafoot, is that they are open to a sale if offers arrive in the region of €7 million, a figure that reflects both the desire to recoup some value and the reduced leverage that comes with a player entering his last contractual year. As reported by FootballInNigeria.com.ng, a move to Atalanta would make Sanusi only the third Nigerian to play for the Bergamo club, following Stephen Makinwa and Ademola Lookman, who recently joined Atletico Madrid after his Serie A best player season.
Atalanta’s interest comes on the back of a difficult domestic campaign in which Gian Piero Gasperini’s side finished outside the top four in Serie A and missed out on Champions League qualification. The club won the Europa League in 2024 and the Coppa Italia in 2025, but the 2025-26 league season fell short of expectations, and Gasperini is now rebuilding his squad for a return to the Champions League through a potential Coppa Italia or league challenge next term. A left back with Porto’s level of experience and Sanusi’s physical profile fits the kind of profile Atalanta have historically targeted in the market. Nigerian fans tracking transfer news ahead of the summer window can check the Bet9ja Serie A transfer offer page for odds on Sanusi’s next club.
A Career Interrupted, Then Rebuilt
Sanusi’s six years at Porto have not been without turbulence. He suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in February 2024 that kept him sidelined for nearly a year, one of the most serious setbacks a defender can face. His return to action in January 2025 was gradual rather than instant, and for much of last season he could not reclaim the starting position he had held before the injury. Last summer saw him linked with a move to Leeds United in the Championship, which did not materialise, and he spent the first half of the 2025-26 season working his way back into Porto’s plans under manager Vitor Bruno.
His performances in the second half of the season ultimately won him a regular place again and contributed to Porto’s Liga Portugal title, the seventh major trophy of his time at the club. That return to form at the right moment has reopened the European market for him: a year ago, no Serie A club was publicly interested. Now one of the more historically significant clubs in Italian football is making enquiries. Fans who want to follow the Serie A transfer window can use the Bet9ja’s YOHAIG promo code for an enhanced opening bonus ahead of the window opening.
What a Move to Bergamo Would Offer
For Sanusi, Atalanta represents a significant step up in the profile of Italian club football compared to the Serie A sides that have previously been linked with Nigerian defenders. Atalanta have built one of the most respected academies and recruitment operations in European football under Gasperini, regularly developing players who go on to top clubs or extending the careers of experienced internationals who others have overlooked. Their 3-4-2-1 system demands physically robust wide defenders who can attack the space in front of them and defend one on one without a traditional back four’s cover, a description that suits Sanusi’s directness and pace reasonably well.
The main question is fitness. Any club spending €7 million on a 28-year-old who suffered an ACL injury 16 months ago will want extensive medical reassurances, and Atalanta’s medical team is meticulous. Sanusi will be looking to use Nigeria’s upcoming June friendlies against Poland and Portugal, fixtures he is expected to be available for despite missing the Unity Cup squad, to put in the kind of performances that finalise the interest from Bergamo into a formal offer. Those tracking whether Sanusi features against Poland or Portugal can use the Bet9ja cashout guide ahead of the June international window.
Porto ending their association with a player who scored one of the most important goals in their recent derby history, the only goal in a title deciding win over Benfica in 2022, will not be without sentiment on either side. But football’s economics rarely allow sentiment to override contract reality, and with 12 months left on his deal and no extension agreed, a summer sale is the outcome that serves everyone best.
📌 Did You Know?
- Zaidu Sanusi scored the only goal in Porto’s 1-0 derby victory over Benfica during the title deciding match of the 2021-22 Liga Portugal season, making him responsible for one of the most important goals in the club’s recent history. The win handed Porto the league title by a single point.
- Atalanta BC, who are pursuing Sanusi, won the UEFA Europa League in 2023-24 by defeating Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the final in Dublin. It was the club’s first major European trophy in their history and one of the most unexpected results in that season’s European competitions.
- Ademola Lookman, the most recent Nigerian to represent Atalanta, was named Serie A’s best player in 2023-24 after scoring 17 goals and providing 10 assists. He left the club in the summer of 2025 to join Atletico Madrid in a deal reported at around €45 million.
- Stephen Makinwa was the first Nigerian to play for Atalanta, joining the Bergamo club in 2007. He made 42 Serie A appearances across three seasons before moving to Genoa, and later had spells in Portugal and Spain before retiring.
- Sanusi has won seven major trophies with Porto, including four Liga Portugal titles, one Taça de Portugal, one Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira and one UEFA Europa Conference League title. His medal haul at Porto surpasses that of most Nigerian players to have played in Portuguese football.
- Porto’s manager Vitor Bruno, who gave Sanusi his route back into the starting lineup this season, is the same Vitor Bruno who took charge at Nottingham Forest during the current season before being replaced by Vitor Pereira. The two Portuguese coaches had overlapping spells in English and Portuguese football this term.
- Atalanta’s Europa League triumph in 2023-24 was managed by Gian Piero Gasperini, who has been at the club since 2016. His decade at Bergamo is one of the longest tenures of any manager at a top five European league club in recent years and is widely considered one of the most successful long-term coaching projects in modern football.
