Soccer
Gian Piero Gasperini has confirmed his departure from Atalanta, as reports suggest he has agreed to join their Serie A rivals Roma.
Gasperini took the reins in Bergamo in 2016, having had two spells with both Genoa and Palermo, around an underwhelming stint at Inter.
Having finished 13th in Serie A in their final season before Gasperini arrived, Atalanta only once finished lower than seventh in nine campaigns under him.
They made the top four – qualifying for the Champions League – on six occasions, finishing third for the third time under him in 2024-25.
Gasperini also oversaw a famous Europa League final victory against Bayer Leverkusen last year, with Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick guiding them to a 3-0 win over a team that was previously unbeaten across all competitions that season.
In all competitions, Gasperini oversaw 439 games with Atalanta, winning 228, drawing 102 and losing 109 for a 51.9% win rate. They scored 852 goals in those matches while conceding 513.
Gasperini’s exit does not come as a surprise, as he stated back in February that he would not renew his contract, which was due to expire in June.
“It wasn’t possible to express this before; only in the last few hours have I really decided to put an end to this wonderful nine-year-long story. But let’s not say goodbye, I don’t like that,” he told Atalanta fans via the Italian newspaper l’Eco di Bergamo.
“We’ve managed to achieve some unquestionably extraordinary results. I would have liked to do more. I didn’t succeed, but we still celebrated a lot together, and I’m sure you will do it again.”
Atalanta’s Europa League success last year was just the second major trophy in their history, after they lifted the Coppa Italia in 1963.
La Dea lost three Coppa Italia finals under Gasperini, going down to Lazio in the 2019 showpiece and losing to Juventus in both 2021 and 2024.
Gasperini is unlikely to be out of a job for long, as Italian media reports suggest he is set to join Roma, with Claudio Ranieri retiring from coaching and moving into an upstairs role.
Roma had previously been linked with Jurgen Klopp and Erik ten Hag, having come to the end of Ranieri’s third stint in charge.
Ranieri boasts a 59% win rate in charge of the Giallorossi in Serie A (58/99), with Luciano Spalletti the only other permanent coach to match that ratio in their top-flight history.
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