Manchester United will have surely taken inspiration from seeing Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen.
United are set to face Manchester City in the FA Cup final for the second year in a row.
Few are really giving United a chance though; Erik ten Hag lost last year’s final 2-1 and the gap between the two sides has widened again.
United finished 14 points behind City last season but a whopping 31 points adrift this season.
Anything can happen in a final though and we saw that play out on Wednesday night.
Bayer Leverkusen entered the Europa League final unbeaten in all competitions this season, so few expected a win for opponents Atalanta.
The Italians sprung a surprise though with Ademola Lookman enjoying the night of his life, bagging a hat-trick to seal a stunning 3-0 win.
Manchester United want Ederson
United may hope to recreate some of that magic against City this weekend.
Scouts would have paid close attention to Atalanta as well, but maybe more for the performance of midfielder Ederson.
Reports in March suggested that United have picked out Ederson as a key summer target.
It was suggested that United want Ederson to replace his fellow Brazilian Casemiro moving forward.
Ederson can play as a number six or a little further forward and United scouts were surely dazzled by his display against Leverkusen.
Italian media rave about Ederson
Leverkusen just couldn’t get to grips with Ederson in midfield and he completely dominated Granit Xhaka and Exequiel Palacios in the engine room.
Tuttomercatoweb rated Ederson at 8 out of 10, who praised Ederson for seemingly having more energy than his opponents.
They added that Ederson was one of the best players on the pitch and is perhaps now one of the best midfielders in Europe.
“A dynamo who the faster he goes the more energy he takes away from his opponent. He’s on every ball, with the quality of a Brazilian. Among the best in the field, perhaps among the best in Europe,” they wrote.
Eurosport went even higher, rating Ederson at 8.5 out of 10 whilst branding him a ‘truly sensational’ midfielder, believing he deserves just as much transfer hype as teammate Teun Koopmeiners.
“As against Roma and Juventus, he is the best there in the middle of La Dea. He starts off with personality even in the somewhat confusing first few minutes. He has physique and quality. A truly sensational midfielder. There has been much more talk on the transfer market about Koopmeiners and his goals, but in this fairy tale of La Dea, Ederson has played a leading role throughout the season,” they wrote.
Calciomercato mirrored that 8.5 rating, suggesting that he was ‘everywhere’ in the Atalanta midfield, doing enough running for four players, never mind just one.
They added that Ederson won the ball back and was quick to get Atalanta going forward again, praising him as a ‘total midfielder’.
“70% of planet Earth is covered by water, the rest from Brazilian. He’s everywhere, he runs for four, recovers, cleans and verticalises. Total midfielder.”
Corriere Della Sera went even higher still, offering a 9 out of 10 rating for the United target.
They suggested that Ederson was simply ‘extraordinary’ in terms of his physicality, positioning, dribbling ability and pressing of the Leverkusen side, branding his display ‘sumptuous’.
“Extraordinary for strength, sense of position, quality of dribbling, pressing. A sumptuous match. Brazil took notice of him,” they wrote.
These qualities are exactly what United need in midfield right now and if Ederson was a prime target before the Europa League final, he is surely moving himself near the top of the transfer wish list now.