The man who first talent spotted new Manchester United signing Amad Diallo has revealed the club had been chasing the 'incredible talent' for more than a year.
United wrapped up a deadline day move for the Atalanta prospect worth an initial £21m that could rise to £37m with add-ons. He is expected to complete the switch in January, subject to a medical, personal terms and a work permit.
Giovanni Galli, who played in goal for Italy in the 1980s, recalls first seeing Amad and his brother Hamed play for the first time back in 2014 in his role as Lucchese’s sporting director.
He told Football Italia: 'Their quality was incredible. They trained with the guys born in 1999.
'Hamed Junior was born in 2000 and his brother Amad was born in 2002. Despite that, there was a huge gap between them and the others.'
Both youngsters immediately made an impression after a friend of Gallo's introduced them to him before taking part in a youth team session.
'Amad was tremendous. Great technical skills, outstanding personality. The way they touched the ball was different, they did nutmegs and all that. They were on another level.'
Hamed plays for Empoli and has been loaned out to Sassuolo while Amad played just three times for Atalanta but has shown enough to United scouts that he is worth the outlay.
'I knew they had been scouting him for over a year,' Galli went on.
'I know a scout of Manchester United very well as we usually meet at games. He used to tell me that the club sent him several times to watch the player.'
He believes the substantial fee will help United secure a work permit for Diallo which would otherwise have been difficult as he is yet to play with his national side Ivory Coast.
Galli concluded: '[The transfer fee] is high, but there is a reason behind it. [Diallo] still needs to get a work permit since he has not played with his national team yet.
'The club need to have valid reasons to take him to the UK. One reason is that the player is coming from a top team and with Atalanta [having] been playing international competitions over the last few years, there are no problems to prove it.
'The second reason is the price tag. A €40m signing means he is an important investment for the club.
'If the cost would be €1m or €2m it may have been more difficult to get the work permit. That being said, €40m is still a lot of money.'