Atalanta travel to Paris for their UEFA Champions League group opener against reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, but once again they will do so without one of their most dynamic attackers.

Nigeria international Ademola Lookman has been left out of Ivan Juric’s squad for a fourth consecutive game this season. The winger also missed Tuesday’s training session along with four teammates, and Italian outlet TMW confirmed Juric’s decision to keep him sidelined.

Lookman has not featured for the Bergamo club since the close of the 2024/25 campaign. His absence follows a turbulent summer in which he sought a move away, only for negotiations with Inter Milan, Fenerbahce, and Galatasaray to collapse when Atalanta insisted on a permanent €50 million deal. With no agreement reached before the September 12 deadline, he is effectively stuck in Bergamo until January.

Juric has made his stance unmistakably clear. “I will not beg anyone to play,” the coach said last week after Lookman returned from an impressive international break with Nigeria. Club director Luca Percassi echoed that view on Sunday, stressing that “commitment to the shirt outweighs individual talent” and that Atalanta need players “ready to give 100 per cent for this jersey.”

Despite being one of Atalanta’s most decisive forwards, the 27-year-old now finds himself in limbo—an international standout forced to watch from the sidelines while his club marches on. Injuries to key players such as Ederson, Gianluca Scamacca, Sead Kolašinac, and Mitchel Bakker have only heightened the intrigue around Juric’s continued exclusion of the Nigerian star.

Atalanta head into the Parc des Princes buoyed by a 4-1 win over Lecce after opening Serie A with two frustrating draws, but the ongoing Lookman saga casts a long shadow over their early season.