Udinese midfielder Atta looking forward to direct battle with Milan star Modric

There may well be a queue of players trying to get Luka Modric’s shirt after Udinese-Milan, and Arthur Atta will be in it.

Atta joined Udinese in the summer window and he has arguably been their stand-out player so far after three games. He leads Serie A for most successful dribbles (10) with Udinese third in the table on seven points, one point above their opponents tonight.

After scoring the winning goal against Inter at San Siro, the the Frenchman faces the Rossoneri at the Stadio Friuli hoping to make it a Milanese double. He spoke in SportWeek (via Calciomercato.com), the weekly magazine in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“As a player, I’m versatile, technical, and passionate. In life, I’d describe myself as calm and collected. I probably take after my parents,” he said.

“After Inter-Udinese, they told me I’d played a good game. As I celebrated, I thought: finally! After my goal, I was happy, but I also thought that we were only 2-1 up and there were still 45 minutes to play against a very strong team.

“In this season, I’ll be happy to see two midfielders like Modric and De Bruyne up close. I like observing all the players at the big clubs to understand what I can improve.

“I liked Toni Kroos because he was beautiful to watch, very elegant. As a child, my idol was Cristiano Ronaldo, for me the best in the world, also because he was decisive in his teams’ victories.”

Atta will likely have to do battle with his compatriot Youssouf Fofana in the middle of the park this evening, which is one of a few crucial duels between two sides that will come into the game with confidence.