In five consecutive years, Atalanta has proven itself to be the best-running club in the history of European football. Although Atalanta is a small team with a total salary equivalent to that of a Championship club, the Atalanta team still outperforms their size. They have already qualified for the Champions League for three consecutive seasons and are just a few seconds away from the semi-finals of the 2019-20 season. He is also playing the most exciting and offensive football in the world.
The secret to their success – leaving aside Gasperini's excellent coaching – stems from a great academy, scouting system and transfer policy. Over the past decade, Atlanta has produced better youngsters than any other club in Italy, and they are also one of the best clubs in Europe in terms of discovering and nurturing young people. That allows Atlanta to buy players at a low price — or for free altogether — and then sell them for a high profit.
The most recent profitable sale was German national team defender Robin Gossens. In 2017, he signed from Hercules for €1 million and is now being sold to Inter Milan for €22 million, plus a €3 million surcharge in 2022. Up to 24 million euros in profits for the club. Last summer, Christian Romero signed permanently from Juventus after a year on loan and sold it immediately a few weeks later for a profit of 39 million euros.
This time last year, Atalanta finally sold rising star Amade Diallo to Manchester United for 41 million euros. He went through Atalanta's youth squad system, playing just four Serie A games before being sold. In the summer of 2020, Kulusevsky was sold to Juventus for 35 million euros, and he played only three games for Atalanta. After a successful loan to Parma in 2019-20, his price soared. There are countless examples of the top players of the Atlanta youth team who can sell for huge prices without spending a lot of money from the club. Bastoni and Gagliardini were bought by Inter Milan for 53 million euros, Casey and Conte Jr. were taken by Milan for 52 million euros, and Caldara was bought by Juventus for 25 million euros.
Smart investments also pay dividends. Cristente's career was revived before being sold to Roma for a profit of 21.5 million euros. Castagne was sold to Leicester City for a profit of 17.5 million euros.
Atlanta's transfer profit since January 2017
Christian Romero: Paid €16 million and sold €55 million
Armad Diallo: Pay 0 euros and sell 41 million euros
Dejan Kulusevsky: Pay 100,000 euros and sell 35 million euros
Alessandro Bastoni: Pay 0 euros and sell 31 million euros
Christant: Pay 9.5 million euros and sell 30 million euros
Frank Casey: Paid 0 euros and sold 28 million euros
Caldara: Pay 0 euros and sell 25 million euros
Robin Gossons: Pay 1 million euros and sell 25 million euros
Castagne: Pays 6.5 million euros and sells 24 million euros
Little Conte: Pay 0 euros and sell 24 million euros
Roberto Galliadini: paid 0 euros and sold 22 million euros
Moussa Barrow: Pay 0 euros and sell 13 million euros
Payment: €33.1 million
Revenue: €353 million
Profit: €319.9 million
The above are 12 players sold since January 2017. In terms of transfer fees alone, they generated a staggering profit of 319.9 million euros. Atlanta is indeed the best-running club in football for nearly five years.