Presenter on Radio Sportiva, on RAI with 90° Minuto and Calcio Totale, he is a columnist and market man for Tuttomercatoweb
The Atalanta team that won the Europa League from the first minute it was composed of: Musso, a goalkeeper who had done excellent things for Udinese. Djimsiti, taken from Benevento. Hien, purchased from Hellas Verona. Toloi, who had to regenerate and find himself after Rome. Zappacosta, who was on the fringes and on yet another loan at Chelsea. Koopmeiners, signed from AZ Alkmaar. Ederson, who arrived in Bergamo from Salernitana. Ruggeri, who had been in Salerno on loan. De Ketelaere, Milan’s meteoric and unsuccessful purchase. Scamacca, who was still looking for an identity and the leap after the Sassuolo season. Lookman, eternal promise of English football, fresh from flops with Leipzig and Leicester.
Bologna’s shots. Sartori’s manifesto
Let’s move on: Bologna, who went to the Champions League, has a ‘type’ of Skorupski in their squad, who has been with the rossoblù for six years but was a former Bologna second. Posch, taken from Hoffenheim, Lucumi from Genk, then Beukema from AZ Alkmaar and Calafiori who was a promising player from Roma and ended up at Basel as a full-back. Freuler who was at Nottingham and Aebischer at Young Boys plus Ferguson signed by Aberdeen in Scotland. Then Saelemaekers supporting player from Milan or Orsolini, an unfulfilled promise from Juventus, Zirkzee who didn’t explode at Bayern Munich and Ndoye from Basel. Giovanni Sartori in Bologna, and his trace in Bergamo is evident, and Tony D’Amico, something he had also done previously in Verona at Hellas and now at Atalanta, gave two extraordinary transfer market lessons to the whole of Italy.
From Corvino to Sogliano, from Kvaratkhelia to Arthur, so many examples
They are not unique, of course. Clear examples are the stories of Lecce, who with the lowest budget, with the lowest wages, built a team with early salvation. Krstovic from Dundajska Streda is the manifesto of Pantaleo Corvino’s work, just as Hellas Verona’s January transfer market, dozens of deals between entries and exits afterwards with the obligation to raise cash, is that of Sean Sogliano. Tijani Noslin from Fortuna Sittard is the emblem of scouting work, research and above all the ability to choose the right player, in the right place, at the right time, in the perfect dressing room, in the place suitable for the boy, the man, the family, to the coach. It is a mix of factors that in today’s football, as in yesterday’s, is essential to avoid making mistakes for a player. The rule of ‘the player is strong and then he will do well’ does not apply. The coaches today have too marked differences from each other, the owners have too different management philosophies to think that a De Ketelaere can do as well in Milan as in Bergamo, that an Arthur can do it in Florence as in Turin, and so on talking. The important thing is to understand that Kvicha Kvaratskhelia is perfect in that historical moment for that Napoli there. That Benjamin Pavard is the right fit in that Inter context. The adults have to choose little but very well. The ‘others’ can allow themselves the luxury of having more margins for error, it’s true. But when we are faced with masterpieces like Atalanta and Bologna, then, all we have to do is take our hats off.
