Does anyone know Atalanta better?
I am interested in: owner, financial situation, ambitions, reason for the transfer, etc.
You sometimes have good to very good players, but they never stay long. Transfers are made as if you build a short-term promotion team every year, while you sometimes even play elite in Europe. You never have a regular eleven. There is always as much rotation as if you want to push the market value of the players as quickly as possible (central defense).
Do you want to be a master? Or are you satisfied with training? Will you ever try to keep a team together when the finances are good? How many Romeros do you have to sell? All the loans? loan army?
Thanks
I’ll try – in general there are some perceived truths in your observations (no blame, good of you to ask!) that I think I can refute.
First of all, the ownership structure: Atalanta is 55% owned by the co-owner of the Boston Celtics Pagliuca (not the ex-goalkeeper) and 45% by the club veteran Percassi, who had played there himself until his early career end (injured) and as a businessman in deeply rooted in Lombardy.
In general, Atalanta is probably one, if not the most stable club in Italy, especially in the upper third. They have been in the black for years (as one of the few in Serie A, the sale of Romero should actually ensure that this year too, despite the lack of an EC) and, thanks to a stringent philosophy and great trust in the people involved, above all coach Gasperini, completely organic growth.
Everything is based on extremely good youth work, the academy is one of the best in Italy, and very, very good scouting as well as trust in Gasperini and (!! Following your contribution) an extremely well-rehearsed team core. Salary costs are still in the lower half in a league comparison, and were even in the lower third when the CL was knocked out.
Sure, there will always be sales of players who outgrow the club, like Romero or Gosens. But: not at any price. With the Germans, for example, out of gratitude after many years of top performance, they were allowed to switch to Inter, which also brings in a nice sum.
Otherwise: Captain Toloi has been there since 2015, Djimsiti since 16, De Roon, Palomino, Hateboer since 2017, Pasalic and Zapata since 2018… Ilicic was in the team for 5 years, Gosens as well, Papu Gomez for six and Freuler for seven. Cases like Romero are rather the exception and you can’t say no to such an offer.
Regarding the ambitions: the Scudetto was never really spoken of in public, although sometimes it wasn’t that far away. In recent years, Gasperini has spoken of the Coppa, where they reached the final twice, as the shortest way to be able to present silverware to the fans.
Unfortunately, the trend is currently declining somewhat, which has a variety of reasons. You can’t keep up financially with the teams from Milan, Rome, Naples and Turin (only Juve^^). Some of the more expensive players have not really ignited (Boga, Maehle) and the sports director ace Sartori is no longer in the club after a nasty argument with Gasperini. Successor D’Amico is also highly valued and he will manage the upheaval. Because the veteran ones have to be replaced slowly. Players like Muriel or Zapata are over their peak and/or injured a lot. Especially the wings are very important for Gasperini. Unfortunately, Hateboer was also injured a lot and Gosens has not yet been replaced. The IV is also aging, but with Demiral, Okoli and Scalvini the upheaval has actually already taken place, even if the latter is likely to change for a lot of money in the summer. Again the Romero effect. The injuries are probably the reason why you think you rotate a lot to increase the value of as many players as possible.
The many loans are then again a special Italy issue. Your own offspring has a lot of output. With the exception of Juve, there are no second teams, which is why the players are often loaned out in the lower leagues. The clubs there usually do not have the financial capacity to sign these players for 3-4 years. Is a structural problem.