Despite not being injured, Ilicic has decided not to end the season with Atalanta. The footballer has returned to his Slovenia to overcome a personal problem.
The entire Atalanta company has lined up alongside Ilicic. The managers and the coach encouraged him in the press room, then they all posed together with the number 72 shirt of the Slovenian champion.
Ilicic was moved by this gesture from his club and decided to break the silence by sharing the photo on social media ( you can see it here ) to thank everyone: "Thanks, you are great".
What does Ilicic have?
No one has provided a direct answer to this question but Atalanta has made it known that he is not injured. The footballer would be experiencing a personal malaise and to overcome it he would have detached with football to take refuge from his family in Slovenia.
According to a reconstruction by Repubblica, Ilicic has not yet psychologically overcome the lockdown spent in a Bergamo brought to its knees by the coronavirus.
“We had the goal of being able to recover Ilicic by the end of the season in order to present him in Lisbon for the Champions League. It probably won't be that way, but he knows that the team loves him, society too, the city loves him. He is from Bergamo, we want him with us sooner or later ".
This is the message that the Atalanta chief executive officer, Umberto Marino, sends to the Slovenian footballer, who has returned to his homeland for a few days for no better specified personal reasons. Shortly before the last league match with Inter, Alejandro Gomez also spoke of Ilicic in Dazn.
“We miss tanittissmo as a person above all, in the locker room he is among the most experienced. Above all I miss him because he is a great friend, we hope to dedicate this victory to him ”.
Even the technician Gasperini wanted to address a thought to Josip Ilicic, who has been in Slovenia for a few days for personal reasons and in all likelihood unavailable for the Champions League: "Ilicic we fill him with hugs". (source ANSA).
Source: Blitz Quotidiano