Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, a club who previously just had one piece of silverware to their name – a Coppa Italia secured in 1963 – saw themselves crowned Champions of Europe in Dublin on Wednesday.
Up until 2011, Atalanta were somewhat of a yo-yo club, enduring four promotions and three relegations in the space of eleven years. However, the side from Bergamo managed to stabilise themselves in the Serie A and get to the point where they have been able to consistently compete in European competitions.
La Dea have competed in either the Champions League or the Europa League for six out of their last seven seasons. Securing European Football for such a sustained period is a remarkable achievement for Atalanta, who had suffered a 26-year hiatus from European competitions between 1991-2017.
Their recruitment policy is admirable and is built around ensuring profitability through making investments in players who are either undervalued or expected to increase in value, while also making their academy a focal point. It’s a model that is becoming increasingly popular in football, with clubs in England such as Brighton and Brentford enjoying success respectively.
Embed from Getty ImagesAtalanta have built one of the best youth academies in the world, and they use this to their benefit. They accelerate the development of their best prospects by throwing them straight into the deep end. The newly crowned UEFA Europa League winners have an U23s team in the Serie C, which allows for their talents to play senior football, without heading out on loan, accelerating both physical and technical development.
Their scouting set-up is incredible with a clear philosophy throughout the club: the scouts identify talents who suit their attacking style of play, ensuring that the investment that is made in youth players is likely to pay off.
Due to the quality of youth players Atalanta acquire, once they reach the senior side, they only remain with the Italian club for a couple of years, before they are sold for huge profits. The profit is then reinvested back into the starting eleven or the youth system, creating the perfect storm of an endless pool of talent.
In the eight years under Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta have a net spend profit of €157 million, exemplifying how effective their model is – ensuring stability but remaining competitive. Pound for pound (or perhaps euro for euro), they are probably the best-run club in the world, and Wednesday’s Europa League win was a deserved reward.
Their intelligent transfer policy also sees them target under-valued players, or those who are deemed to have a high ceiling, but have yet to exemplify that talent. The perfect example of this is Ademola Lookman – the Englishman seemed a lost soul at his former clubs, however, the move to Bergamo has reinvigorated his career.
The Wandsworth-born attacker has now spent two seasons in the Lombardy region, and has had an incredible impact. In his first campaign, he was the club’s top goalscorer – netting 15 goals as Atalanta finished 5th in the Serie A. This term, he has been equally as impressive, with the mere €15m transfer fee proving a steal. The winger scored the first-ever hat trick in a Europa League final to secure Atalanta’s first trophy in 61 years; it’s fair to suggest he’s paid the transfer fee back.
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter the final, the Atalanta boss could not have spoken in a higher regard of Lookman, as he provided some insight into the recruitment process which saw the forward brought to the club from RB Lipezig in 2022.
“He [Lookman] was at Leicester, he was a Leipzig player on loan. We had a senior manager that worked at Leicester that saw they had the opportunity to bring him in from Everton, but we never imagined that he could make this much progress,” expressed Gasperini.
“He wasn’t overly prolific in England. I changed his position a little bit and played him in a slightly more attacking role – this season he’s had a great year. Tonight, he achieved something that will remain in the annals of footballing history: a stunning hat trick. He’s really carried himself as an incredible player, a decisive player, a matchwinner.”
The quick transfer flip of Rasmus Højlund points towards how effective Atalanta’s model is. They signed the forward in 2022 for a reported fee of €17 million, and sold him the following season for close to €85 million. Similar can be said for Dejan Kuluveski, Cristian Romero and Alessandro Bastoni, among many others.
However, securing the UEFA Cup doesn’t mean that Atalanta have reached their end goal – they have only just begun. The Italian side will be looking to continue their progression, aiming to ensure they make it out of the reformatted league phase of the Champions League. The project they have built shows that the club want to get itself into a position where they are considered as one of Europe’s elite, and Wednesday’s success coupled with their phenomenal structure shows that they are not far away.
Gasperini reviewed Atalanta’s incredible run as they were crowned Europa League winners, suggesting that “making the Europa League final was already a significant achievement but it’s even more prestigious to now win the trophy. We’ve won it against top teams. We came up against almost all domestic champions and that gives even more prestige and gloss to our triumph.”
Embed from Getty ImagesWhile La Dea had already guaranteed Champions League participation through Serie A, becoming the 30th club to win the Europa League comes with a huge pay package, as Atalanta appear set for yet another profitable season. The side from Bergamo will hope that their profit will lead to even more success as they attempt to navigate themselves into a position where they can compete with the likes of Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan for the Serie A title.
Domestically, La Dea‘s Europa League success points to the fact that they are not far away from a potential title bid. The Italian side should continue to improve this summer, inevitably making more sales. But, with their ridiculous talent identification, no outgoing will phase the club as they will almost certainly find another gem who will fill any voids.
Giovanni Sartori and Gian Piero Gasperini have built an incredible project at Atalanta, and many clubs should be looking to take a leaf out of their book and replicate their model. They have turned a dream into a reality through astute management – taking the club from the Serie B to Europa League winners in eight years.
Gasperini reflected on the remarkable process which has seen the club reap the rewards of investing in their youth and maintaining financial stability.
“We’ve done so while making sure we balance the books or even make a profit and that’s the most exceptional element of this club. Typically in Europe and above all in Italy, the clubs that are winning struggle to keep costs down whereas Atalanta have managed to win things while still being a financially sustainable club and that’s why the club deserves great credit.”
“Winning the Europa League with Atalanta is perhaps one of those footballing fairy tales that very rarely crop up and it does give scope for meritocracy. There’s still scope for ideas and it doesn’t only come down to cold hard numbers and super leagues. But, other teams who don’t have huge budgets can still achieve great things.”