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

The bench waltz in Serie A continues. After nine years it is goodbye between Atalanta and Gian Piero Gasperini. The coach has reportedly informed the club of his intention to terminate his contract one year before its expiration; he would have accepted the three-year contract offered by Roma. The club and the coach, who in the meantime had also received an offer from Juventus, which was declined, will meet within the next week for the consensual termination. For the succession to Gasperini the names in the balance are those of 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 creator of a cycle that culminated with the fifth Champions League qualification the year after he had brought the Europa League, the first international trophy 61 years after the Coppa Italia, into the trophy cabinet, led to a hasty choice of successor. Attempts to prolong the relationship were futile, despite the mutual esteem with the club and the Percassi family.

The coach's meeting with Roma's emissaries in Florence put an end to this, and his three-year contract was preferred to a one-year extension with the Bergamo team, amidst the displeasure 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 an over-60 year old. Excluding former Azzurri coach Roberto Mancini, the names include Palladino and Motta, former pupils of Gasperini as players in his Genoa days. Also among the favourites are another up-and-comer like Tudor, who seems destined to remain on the Juventus bench for some time, and alternatively coaches who are no longer very young like Stefano Pioli and Maurizio Sarri.

The latter, however, seems close to Lazio, whom he has already coached. The buying campaign will be a consequence of the management's choice: they will try to keep at least one big between Ederson and Lookman, while Pasalic on expiry may join Gasperini in the capital.