You’d be hardpressed to find anyone besides the most La Dea faithful to think Atalanta could build off their historic run last year. You’ll get the classic comments about how a regional club can’t continuously compete with the Serie A’s giants, they’re a selling club, or they’re basically Udinese from 10 years ago and will crash back down to earth at some point. Now I’m not here to sell you on Atalanta scoring 98 Serie A goals again, or taking PSG to the final minutes of the Champion’s League Quarterfinals; but I can make a comfortable and convincing pitch that Atalanta can make a habit out of performances like last year. Champion’s League money and exposure is nothing to sneeze at, and perhaps may have been the catapult La Dea needed to branch out and spread its wings from Bergamo.
Reason 1: The Gang is Still Together
While Timothy Castagne saw greener pastures at Leicester, the entire squad who saw reasonable minutes last year is back (barring any crazy last week transfers). I feel team continuity often goes underappreciated, and La Dea have developed a nice trend of maintaining a core of central figures, while slowly bringing new players into the fold until they eventually become central figures. Just look at Ruslan Malinovskyi. He played sparingly in the first half of the season, but was fire after the COVID break, instrumental in the absence of Ilicic. He’s part of core now, just like Pasalic and Muriel and Caldara who now know exactly what their roles on the squad are (well the jury may be out on Pasalic still). There is no baptism by fire at Atalanta, just being thrust into the fold and no chemistry with your teammates. A huge testament to Atalanta’s brass and Gasperini’s coaching philosophy.
Reason 2: We Finally Have Depth
The team was gassed at the end of last year’s brutal COVID fixture schedule, and I felt depth was an absolute necessity going into this year. And boy did they add it this transfer window! As previously mentioned, Castagne was the only departure from last year (not counting Tameze and Cyzborra who barely got minutes), and Atalanta went on a feeding frenzy adding five new rotation options! Romero, Piccini, Mojica, Miranchuk, and Lammers cover nearly the entire pitch, and provide fantastic depth to the aforementioned core. Not one player, save crazy injuries, will be called upon to do laborious work immediately, and will be given time to learn his role and gel with the club. I’d still be comfortable with another option at defensive midfield, but perhaps either Pessina or Pasalic will eventually blossom into the role, the jury is still out…
Reason 3: Gasperini Is Still at the Helm
It’s evident that either Gasperini’s system or the man himself brings out the best individual qualities in his players. Just go to Transfermarkt.com and see the meteoric rise of nearly every player after arriving in Bergamo, it’s astounding. People love to make the argument that players only become worldbeaters because of Gasperini’s system, which more than anything is kudos to him and even more of a knock on other coaches and trainers who can’t replicate his ways. Not only is Gasperini doing it, but his “disciple” at Verona Ivan Juric has taken a team that was nearly destined to be relegated last season, and has made them a solid mid-table Serie A staple with minimal resources and budget. The system works, and as long as Gasp stays in Atalanta, I’m confident La Dea can keep winning.
Reason 4: Their Business Model Has Staying Power
In La Dea’s last 4 seasons they have finished 3rd, 3rd, 7th, and 4th. Not bad for a club who’s wages suggest they should finish anywhere from 10th to 15th. If these results aren’t enough, look to the scouting, the youth system, and the transfer policy. As painful as it is to let players go, Atalanta treat football much more like a business than many of their Serie A counterparts. I always thought it was strange that a team with a heralded youth system barely had any Italians in the squad. But everything works in unison. The youth and savvy youth signing systems feeds the loan system (50+ players on loan it feels like consistently!), which feeds micro transfers and sometimes splashes like Kulusevski, which feeds the scouting system that finds gems at a slight discount all over Europe for Gasperini to mold into his model. I feel one piece of the puzzle cannot work without the other, so kudos to Percassi’s patience and belief in the system he has in place. There are few clubs in Europe run better, and most owners are too impatient to get through the lumps and bad patches to reach a business model that bears fruit (cough cough Milan cough cough). Granted you’ve gotta get lucky sometimes with a superstar who’s selfless enough to see a project through to the end, and if Papu Gomez isn’t already the most famous player in La Dea’s history, he will be eventually. Being lucky is nice, but good planning and savvy moves make luck simply a luxury.
Predictions
I’m not much for predictions, since I’ll anxiously be thinking about them all year, but I’ll say this. I’m confident of European football in some capacity in Winter 2021, and in Fall 2021. Probably not going too much out on a limb, but Serie A is on fire now, and with everyone from Juventus to even Cagliari looking poised to finish Top-7, it’s impossible to predict what will happen in 38 games. All I ask for is consistent progress, plus some personal guilty pleasures. I want to see Zapata challenge for Capocannonieri, I want to see some more Malinovskyi missiles, I want to see Romero bully Juventus around like the aggressor that he is, I want to see Miranchuk graduate from baby-Ilicic to full grown-Ilicic, and I want to see an all Colombian goal with Mojica bombing down the left, chipping a cross to Zapata who nudges a header along to a wide open Muriel who taps it into the bottom corner. Is that too much to ask??? Perhaps, but it’ll be a wild ride regardless, but as always Forza La Dea, and let’s have another fantastic memorable season!
