Andrea Berta has reached an agreement with Arsenal to become their new sporting director after Edu made his surprise exit from the Emirates in November, and we’ve picked out his top ten transfers.
He was sporting director of AC Carpenodolo and then Parma, but none of his signings at those two clubs have made the cut, with two in this ten from his three-year stint at Genoa and the rest from his 12 years of service at Atletico Madrid.
Berta spent the first four years in the Spanish capital as technical director before being promoted, but we’ve credited him with transfers made in that period in the assumption that he played his part.
10) Leonardo Bonucci: Inter to Genoa (€4m)
Berta’s pride at making a €6.5m profit Berta on Bonucci in a month by selling him to Bari for €10.5m in the same transfer window as when he bought him has likely dwindled across a career that’s seen the centre-back win 15 major trophies including nine Scudettos and the European Championship with his country, for whom he’s made 121 appearances.
He might now believe he should have squeezed a bit more out of Bari, especially given Bonucci left for Juventus the year after for nearly double that fee, or at least granted the Genoa fans the opportunity to actually see one of the greatest centre-backs of the modern era play for their club. Still, a 160 per cent profit in 30 days is quite something.
9) Kieran Trippier: Tottenham to Atletico Madrid (€22m)
Trippier’s move to Spain came as a surprise because at that stage in 2022 is was still weirdly seen as some sort of admission of Premier League failure to leave The Best League In The World for any club other than Real Madrid or Barcelona. He had a lovely time though, playing a major role in the title win during his second season.
8) Kevin Prince Boateng: Portsmouth to Genoa (€5.7m)
Boateng’s another example of Berta flipping footballers for profit, as he joined Genoa in July 2010, left on loan to Milan for a €3m fee in August 2010, and then joined them pemanently for €10.5m a year later. He did the same trick with Martin Demichelis, signing him on a free transfer from Malaga for Atletico before palming him off to Manchester City for €4m without him ever playing a game.
7) Julian Alvarez: Manchester City to Atletico Madrid (€70m)
The impact of his transfer is arguably being felt more in Manchester than Madrid, with no City player other than Erling Haaland looking likely to get anywhere near the 29 goal contributions Alvarez managed last term, but he’s already on 27 in 41 appearances for Simeone’s side in what could end up being a treble-winning season, with his stunning strike against Real Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie proof of value for money even at €70m.
6) Stefan Savic: Fiorentina to Atletico Madrid (€12m)
Savic made just 21 appearances for Manchester City having joined from Partizan Belgrade for €12m, mainly from the bench, in his one and only season at the Etihad, and watched the AGUERROOO moment from home having not even been included in Roberto Mancini’s squad before being sold to Fiorentina for nothing.
City haven’t particularly missed the centre-back since but their loss has been a man-mountain of a gain for Atletico, for whom Savic made 297 appearances at the heart of their infamously miserly defence before leaving for Trabzonspor in the summer.
MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Ferdinand names the four sides who would beat Arsenal in the Champions League
👉 Arsenal ‘lead’ Sesko transfer ‘race’ as reporter ‘hears’ update with ‘gentleman’s agreement’ confirmed
👉 Arsenal ‘open talks’ over ‘mega-money summer deal’ with Berta a ‘huge fan’ of forward
5) Luis Suarez: Barcelona to Atletico Madrid (€9m)
Signed at the age of 33 after a relatively meagre injury-hit season at Barcelona, it was a gamble which paid off in a big way. Suarez scored 21 league goals to lead Simeone’s side to the title.
4) Rodri: Villarreal to Atletico Madrid (€20m)
Signed for €20m and sold for €70m to Manchester City a year later before winning everything in club football, the European Championship for his country and the highest individual honour in football that saw Atletico’s city rivals throw a collective hissy fit. Perfect.
3) Jose Gimenez: Danubio FC to Atletico Madrid (€995k)
Pretty reasonable for a centre-back who’s gone on to make 347 appearances for the club, winning La Liga twice, has won 92 caps for Uruguay in the process and was valued at €70m at his peak around five years ago.
2) Jan Oblak: Benfica to Atletico Marid (€16m)
Widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world over the last decade or so along with Thibaut Courtois, Ederson, Emi Martinez, Manuel Neuer and the Paris Saint-Germain-denying superhuman Alisson, Oblak was named Player of the Season as Atletico won the title in 2020/2021 and his clean sheet percentage of 48 across 358 La Liga games the highest of any goalkeeper to have played more than ten games in the competition’s history.
1) Antoine Griezmann: Real Sociedad to Atletico Madrid (€30m); Barcelona to Atletico Madrid (€22m)
If you think of Atletico Madrid, after Diego Simeone comes Antoine Griezmann. The Frenchman is so deeply woven into the fabric of the football club that we couldn’t remember who he played for before joining and had absolutely no idea his six goals for Real Sociedad in 2009/2010 helped them to the second division title and promotion to La Liga.
He probably didn’t think at that point that he would go on to break the all-time Atletico Madrid goalscoring record, but here we are, with his two-year €100m-making dalliance with Barcelona if anything making him more of a club legend and acting as further testament to Berta’s negotiation skills.