Atalanta President Antonio Percassi admits he thought the Orobici’s 2016-17 campaign was a joke and that their objective next season is “survival”.
Atalanta defied all the odds to finish fourth in Serie A last season – their best-ever placing – and qualify for the Europa League group stage, although their band of promising youngsters has already taken a hit through the departure of Franck Kessie to Milan.
Atalanta President Antonio Percassi admits he thought the Orobici’s 2016-17 campaign was a joke and that their objective next season is “survival”.
Atalanta defied all the odds to finish fourth in Serie A last season – their best-ever placing – and qualify for the Europa League group stage, although their band of promising youngsters has already taken a hit through the departure of Franck Kessie to Milan.
“It went Juve, then Roma, then Napoli and then us. Sometimes I think I’m on ‘Scherzi a parte’…” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Kessie wanted to join Milan and the economic offer was impossible for us to resist. Conti has another four years on his contract, if someone comes forward…
“However, I’d recommend him to stay at Atalanta for another year. He could go to Juve and end up playing little.
“Caldara told me: ‘I want to stay here another year, now I don’t consider myself ready for Juve.’
“Gomez also has three years on his contract and there’s no reason for him to leave at this point.
“We’ll see, but I don’t think he wants to go to another team. Plus there’s Europe on the horizon…
“The players are all fine after an extremely-gruelling campaign, thanks to the work of the coaches, doctors and preparations.
“But we won’t stop there, and in the coming months we’ll invest €10m to improve Zingonia [Atalanta’s training complex]: a jewel.
“I had a sleepless night when Gasp [Coach Gian Piero Gasperini] told me he wanted to start with some young players.
"We had to play against Napoli, who had just played in the Champions League against Benfica.
“If went wrong, he risked burning the lads out, but he was right.
“We always believed in him, and in Bergamo we’d never seen the team play so well.
“Gasp was a long-term idea, even though we’d initially focused on [Rolando] Maran. Our Coach was contracted to Genoa and Preziosi happened to call me to tell me he was taking Juric, so I didn’t waste any time.
“We’re focused on educating our youngsters, it’s one of the objectives of our youth academy.
“When I’m at the table, [the young players] have to behave well and not mess around. We’re very tough on those who misbehave. Sometimes I call them to make sure everything’s fine.
“Besides, I played with [Gaetano] Scirea. I know what education means.
“Our objective is survival, we mustn’t lose sight of it. We’re keeping our feet on the ground: a double commitment will be risky, given what happened to Sassuolo.
“We’re ready, but our priority remains the League. We won’t be foolish, our salaries will increase by 20 percent and we want to improve, but only by respecting certain limits.
“The Europa League will bring us €7-8m, but we must also consider the €10m we’ve invested in Zingonia and €40m for the new stadium that will be ready in 3-4 years.
“We want to maintain our balance so that we’re not forced to sell at the last moment, like when we sold Bonaventura.
“The idea is to buy young Italians: now everyone’s following the Atalanta model, but it’s not easy to sign quality Italians.
“And we’re little ants compared to Juve. I hope the stadium is a good investment, even if the municipality hasn’t given us even an extra square metre, but after 110 years of history, we deserve it.
“It’s a shame to play the Europa League at Mapei Stadium. Verona, San Siro, and Reggio Emilia were the three hypotheses, but Sassuolo were very helpful and I’m sure we’ll have the same support from our fans.”