Atalanta: The Power of Good Management
In a sport where the clubs with the biggest budget rule, there seems to be an exception. A small club from Bergamo, Italy has managed to go from relegation to becoming a consistent top 4 in Serie A (first division) and even becoming one of the most difficult and dangerous teams to face in all of Europe in a little over 10 years. The rise of Atalanta B.C may come as a surprise to many, but when we look closer under the microscope, we can see that their recent success is a consequence of a perfectly engineered work done by the organization over many years. From the president, all the way down to the youth sector, everyone works together in harmony to achieve the best results on the pitch possible. This article takes a closer look at the specific areas that have made this possible.
Financials
Atalanta’s budget is nowhere near the likes of Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, or Napoli, but somehow, they have found a way to compete with them regardless. Their financial disadvantage is demonstrated when you look at each of the club’s salaries. Teams like Juventus can afford to bring in the best players and even pay as much as €31M per year to Cristiano Ronaldo, which is almost half of what Atalanta pays their whole squad.
However, when talking about financials, the budget size might be a disadvantage, but the way Atalanta manages their books is something to applaud. President Percassi once told Sky Sport Italia that “Keeping the books balanced is fundamental for us”, and they have done more than that. Atalanta is the ONLY club of the above mention to make a profit in 2020.
Something to keep in mind is that Atalanta has not received any massive capital injections or investments from owners with exotic backgrounds, they have not landed any astonishing sponsorship deal, and there have not been any scandals regarding Financial Fair Play (FFP). Their current financial health is a consequence of the extraordinary job Percassi, and the other members of the board have done.
Another key indicator that proves good decisions are being taken, is the increase in the squad’s market value ever since Percassi took charge in 2010. At the beginning of his mandate, the squad’s market value was €59.28M and 16th in the league in terms of value; currently, the squad is worth €381M and 6th in value.
Perhaps the most crucial choice taken by management was the appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini as coach of the first team. After the appointment of Gasperini in 2016, we can see an exponential rise in value, due to the impressive results achieved by the team.
Antonio Percassi
Although we wouldn’t be talking about any of this if it weren’t for the performances of Gasperini and the team, there is one person that deserves much of the praise and that is Antonio Percassi.
Percassi is a former footballer himself. He made his debut at 17 while playing for Atalanta. However, at 24 he decided to retire and pursue a career as an entrepreneur, creating in the process an empire worth around 1.3 billion USD today. He has always had a great love for the club and the city, so much that the headquarters of his business is located in Bergamo. Percassi had a short mandate from 1990 to 1994, however, it was not until 2010 when he took the reins more seriously. When he took charge of the club, Atalanta had just been demoted to Serie B the previous year; that first season in charge, Atalanta would win the Serie B championship and achieve promotion to the top-flight.
Under his mandate, the club has also improved from an infrastructure point of view. The sporting center, also known as the “Centro Sportivo Bortolotti”, has not stopped growing. The center currently consists of 7 fields or playgrounds, a gym, changing rooms, a restaurant, massage and physiotherapy rooms, a spa and wellness center, and meeting rooms. But perhaps Percassi’s greatest achievement as president came in 2017, when Atalanta acquired the stadium from the city government for €8.6M, making them one of the few clubs in Italy that owns their stadium.
This is very important because now the club gets to keep all the profits generated from gamedays. Additionally, it opens a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to sponsorships, as is the case with GEWISS, who have acquired the naming rights of the stadium for the next six years. Currently, the stadium is undergoing renovations and it is expected to be finished by 2021. The new state-of-the-art facility will host 23,370 fans and it is expected to have a total cost of €40M.
Youth Academy
One of the main reasons Atalanta has been able to compete with these big clubs is because of their youth academy. Atalanta’s academy is arguably the best in Italy and one of the best in the world. Unlike the big teams, they cannot afford to buy big names; instead, they produce them. Over the years, the academy has consistently produced first-team level players; many of whom have gone on to become stars of Italian football; some recent examples are Bonaventura, Conti, Gagliardini, Kessie, Gabbiadini, and Caldara. On top of that, their youth teams have won 5 trophies in the last 5 years, amongst them the primavera championship in the 18/19 season.
What is their secret?
Atalanta has decided to sort of emulate the model of the two most famous academies in the world, which are Ajax’s and Barcelona’s La Masia. The academy has a focus on developing the technical abilities of the players before anything else. They believe that it is pointless to focus on tactics and formations if the players can’t execute them due to their bad technique. Recruiting plays a big role as well, Atalanta has established a network with the other youth clubs in the area, in which Atalanta gets notified if there is a promising talent at one of the clubs to possibly recruit. When recruiting, Atalanta is more interested in players that are strong mentally, rather than physically. They believe that at a young age it is more important to develop the right mindset for a professional footballer, rather than the physique which can be worked on further down the line.
However, these “gems” that come out of the academy do not always stay for long at the club. In recent years, the sale of some of their best youth products has helped fund the club’s operations. For example, Dejan Kulusevski got transferred to Juventus for €34.8m, Alessandro Bastoni to Inter for €31.1m, Franck Kessie and Andrea Conti to Milan for €26.5m and €24m respectively, Roberto Gagliardini to Inter €22m, and Mattia Caldara to Juventus for €19. Although it might seem that they are strengthening their direct rivals, most of these players have performed nowhere near the levels they showed at Atalanta, which makes it look like Atalanta got the better part of the deal in most cases.
Gasperini & First Team
In the end, the only way to measure the success of the project is with the results obtained on the pitch, and Atalanta’s have been extraordinary in the last few years. They finished 3rd in the last two seasons and inside the Top4 three times in the last four seasons. Amongst their achievements, there is the quarterfinal of the Champions League, reached last season, in which they were defeated by PSG.
Much of this success is attributable to Gian Piero Gasperini, who took on the job as manager in 2016 and in that first season led the team to a 4th place finish. Gasperini has done something more than just bring results to Bergamo, he has given the team an identity. With his offensive football and man-marking high press, along with his unusual 3–4–3 formation, he has turned Atalanta into a goal-scoring machine that is a joy to watch. Moreover, Gasperini has always been a manager that puts his faith in young players, and having Italy’s finest academy at his disposal, has resulted in a perfect match between club and coach. What makes Gasperini’s work more impressive is that each season, Atalanta has sold players that were crucial to the team, such as Kessie, Conti, and their captain Gomez; however, Gasperini has found a way around this, and the level of the performances have not dropped; if anything, they have only improved. Currently, Atalanta is battling for 2nd in yet another impressive season where they have already defeated Juventus, AC Milan, and Napoli (x2) this year, while also making it to the round of 16 in the Champions League where they lost against Real Madrid. When we look at the current team, none of the team’s names individually stand out; but when we look at them as a team, they have become one of Europe’s strongest teams, and in big part, it is thanks to the work Gasperini and his team have done.
Conclusion
The story of Atalanta could have very well been just another fairytale season that would live in the minds of their fans for many years, but it is not. They have shown that they built a serious and ambitious project with very strong foundations and that their current success is a consequence of many correct decisions taken. Much of the success can be attributed to Gasperini and his team, but it would be very naïve of us not to acknowledge all the work done by the club behind the scenes.
