Gasperini leaves Atalanta and goes to Rome (after rejecting Juventus)

The waltz of benches in Serie A continues. After nine years, Atalanta and Gian Piero Gasperini are saying goodbye. The coach has reportedly communicated to the club his intention to terminate his contract one year before it expires; he has reportedly accepted the three-year contract proposed to him by Roma. The club and coach, who in the meantime has also reportedly received an offer from Juventus, which was declined, will meet again within the next week for the consensual termination. The names in play for Gasperini's succession are Raffaele Palladino, Igor Tudor, Stefano Pioli and Thiago Motta.

Atalanta thus closes nine glorious years and prepares to plan for the future. The farewell to Gasperini, the architect of a cycle that culminated with the fifth qualification for the Champions League the year after bringing the Europa League to the trophy cabinet, the first international trophy, the first trophy in 61 years since the Coppa Italia, leads to hastening the times for the choice of the successor. Attempts to prolong the relationship were useless, despite the mutual respect with the club and the Percassi family.

The final word was put in the meeting in Florence between the coach and the emissaries of Roma, whose three-year contract was preferred to the one-year extension of the contract with the Bergamo team, to the disappointment and resignation of the fans, who through banners at the headquarters in Zingonia and a demonstration in front of the Bergamo City Hall invited the parties to shake hands again for the good of the team and the city.

The first week of June will be decisive for the agreement with the new coach, who apparently will not be over sixty. Excluding the former Italian coach Roberto Mancini, among the names are Palladino and Motta, former students of Gasperini as players during their time at Genoa. Among the possible candidates is also another emerging player like Tudor, who seems destined to remain on the Juventus bench for a while, and secondarily coaches who are no longer very young like Stefano Pioli and Maurizio Sarri.

The latter, however, seems close to Lazio, which he has already coached. The transfer campaign will be consequent to the choice of the management: they will try to keep at least one big between Ederson and Lookman, while Pasalic whose contract is expiring can join Gasperini in the Capital.