Football Season Guide

Last season, Atalanta had to face the end of their love story with Gian Piero Gasperini. They thought that hiring one of his pupils, Ivan Juric, would make their life easier but, after 2 wins in the initial 11 games, he was sacked and Raffaele Palladino took his place. Things improved a lot as they climbed from the 13th spot all the way up to the 7th, come the end of February. Wins then became scarce in the remaining months, only 3 between weeks 27 and 34 plus a memorable 4-1 success over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, while they were heavily hammered by Bayern Munich in Europe and failed to make the Coppa Italia final, eliminated by a much weaker Lazio. Atalanta eventually qualified to the Conference League, finishing 7th, and this cost Palladino his post. While they were quite solid defensively, conceding 36 goals only, last season offensively Atalanta were only the pale image of the team admired in the previous years, with 51 goals scored. Thus, the management resorted to Maurizio Sarri, the master of offensive football. Apart from this, Atalanta summer was not a busy one in terms of arrivals and departures. In fact, they first let go of a few players, who were returning from loans. Palestra, a right-back who made his name at Cagliari, will finance their transfer campaign after bringing a massive amount of cash to their safe. On the other hand, strikers Maldini and Touré will continue playing elsewhere. At the back, with Djimsiti considering a move, they will need to find a new leader, also considering that the likes of Hien, Kolasinac and Kossounou are all injury-prone and missed relevant playing time last season. They made their major investment in Gaetano, a midfielder/playmaker who also did well in Sardinia and is set to become a protagonist, also considering that De Roon is not getting any younger. Good news is also Ederson’s permanence, after his move to England fell through.