We have all witnessed what Gian Piero Gasperini has achieved in Atalanta, something that many could, and may have to call a miracle.
There is no debate on the capacities of the Grugliasco coach – he has been one of the three main managers of Italian football for years. In fact, he began to lay the foundations of something special before his stay in Bergame, especially during his mandate in Genoa.
In Liguria, the objective was never to win trophies, but rather to discover talent, to build a system and to help young players reach their full potential, ultimately transforming them into precious active ingredients that the club could sell for profit. Gasperini has always worked with emerging talents, helping clubs generate capital gains that could be reinvested.
Atalanta prospered through his work, alongside the sports director Giovanni Sartori. There are many players who have prospered under Gasperini but who had trouble reproducing this form elsewhere. The first two names that come to my mind are Gagliardini and Cristante, but the list is long.
Create talents
Gasperini creates talents. Sometimes he shapes it, other times, he builds it from scratch, and he does it through relentless hard work. In Bergamo, he not only developed talents but also delivered trophies, even raising the Europa League. It would have been unthinkable ten years ago, maybe even five.
That said, is the question no longer “Gasperini is a high-level coach?” Without a doubt, it is. The real question is now: can it reproduce this success to Roma?
Some can answer: “Why not?”, Ok, fair enough. But the reality is in Rome, many good ideas have failed to take root. Promising projects have died prematurely, often due to poor organization and a lack of competence in the club’s hierarchy. An example? We must not forget the case of Luis Enrique.
He was brought to the capital and quickly devoured by the press and the fans, largely because the board of directors, led by Franco Baldini and Walter Sabatini, failed to protect him or give him the tranquility of working. A colossal talented waste. He was left to manage a defense made up of Rodrigo Taddei (as a right back), Aleandro Rosi, Simon Kjaer, Gabriel Heinze and José ángel, among others.
It is even difficult to read this out loud, and even less to comment. Unsurprisingly, the project collapsed, as well as the dreams of a fans base.
The Roma were also slow on the transfer market. At any time, the agreements for Richard Rios, Wesley and Evan Ferguson could be finalized, but the pre-season started without any new signature in Trigoria.
This is a problem, especially for a coach like Gasperini, whose demanding style requires significant early work on the physical conditioning of players (and not only that, in fact). His ideas are complex, and the board of directors of Roma, now composed of Ricky Massara and Claudio Ranieri, does not give him the support he needs.
Key positions to strengthen
At least not yet. The two key positions in which he specifically asked for reinforcements is the right back, targeting Wesley from Flamengo and the midfielder, with Rios of Palmeiras, at the top of the list.
The club is also looking for an attacker who can increase the level of Artem Dovbyk. The elected official seems to be Evan Ferguson, a young talent who now needs to put a difficult period behind him and to rediscover the promise he has shown.
In addition to that, Gasperini will have to strengthen the defense and recover the best versions of Paulo Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini. The two could be essential next season, but with long -injury layoffs, Pellegrini is still sidelined, which means that they will need additional work to update themselves. The regulations on financial fairs mean that the Roma will have to sell to buy, without weakening the team, a task easier to say than to do.
There is a lot of work to come for Massara and Ranieri, and not much time. Once they have done their part, it will be the turn of Gasperini. But for the coming season to succeed, the club must be held firmly behind it, whatever the first results, or if a key player comes up against his methods.
They must support him whatever happens. In the same way that ATALANTA has done in the past (for example, with El Papu). Gasperini is a high -level coach, but it is not easy to work.
He demands a lot of players, staff, club. However, if the right conditions are in place, the Roma could become a serious competitor for a finish among the first four in the series of next season A. It all starts by obtaining these first signatures on the line. Fans of the Roma and Gasperini are waiting.
(Tagstotranslate) Football