A starting XI of signings: here's Kossounou to shore up the defence
He won the Bundesliga last season
Atalanta BC are glad to announce the signing, on loan until June 30 2025 with an option to make the transfer permanent, of footballer Odilon Kossounou from Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball. The 23-year-old Ivorian defender won the CAF African Cup of Nations and the Bundesliga title last season.
Born in Abidjan on January 4 2001, he took his first footballing steps at Swedish Club Hammarby, with whom he made his first professional appearances in 2019. In the summer transfer window of the same year, he completed a permanent move to Belgian side Club Bruges, where he won two consecutive leagues and a Belgian Super Cup: in his stint as a Blauw-Zwart he racked up 55 appearances (scoring 1 goal and providing 2 assists) across all competitions, including his 7 UEFA Champions League starts (against the likes of PSG, Real Madrid, Lazio Borussia Dortmund and Zenit) and his 4 Europa League appearances.
After ushering in the 2021/22 season on July 17 with a win and a start in the Belgian Super Cup knockout against Genk, he then completed a permanent move to the Bundesliga, joining Bayer Leverkusen.
In his three-season-stint with Die Schwarzroten Kossonou racked up 102 appearances in all competitions (whilst also scoring 1 goal and providing 3 assists) playing a key contribution in the Club's latest achievements: from Bayer Leverkusen's first historic Bundesliga title to the DFB-Pokal and the team's Road to the 2023/24 Europa League final, where he crossed paths with none other than Atalanta.
An Ivorian representative he made his debut for Les Éléphants in October 2020 with an honours even in the friendly played in Bruxelles against Belgium. Since then, he collected 24 caps with Ivory Coast winning the 2024 CAF African Cup of Nations last February after defeating Nigeria 2-1 in the final (a game he featured as a starter).
The Percassi and Pagliuca families and the whole Club would like to extend a warm welcome to Odilon and wish him the best of luck in his future personal and team endeavours as a Nerazzurro.