Atalanta BC earned a nail-biting return to Serie A at the first time of asking with a 2-1 aggregate victory in the 2038 Serie B playoff final. Trebor Mahtal now had a big task to strengthen a side now that a worrying financial situation was potentially behind them.
Indeed, the Atalanta board announced they had cleared the club’s debts and handed Mahtal a £20m transfer kitty and a £672k wage budget. Mahtal was also now finally able to scout and buy players. But his first move of the summer was to lock his best young players down to new deals, which left them with only £100k spare in the wage budget. He also spent time rebuilding the coaching staff, while the board agreed to requests to improve youth recruitment and the training facilities.
Mahtal sold 29-year-old midfielder Romano, who had 12 months on his contract, to Torino for £18m but managed to hold onto his best youngsters. They were joined by midfielder Alessandro Zecchinato, who’ll retrain as a centre back, for £3.5m from Cesena, midfielder/striker Michael Kehl for up to £15.5m from Schalke and striker Danilo D’Ottavio for £1.3m from Ancona. Mahtal also raided Serbia for youngsters, including Partizan’s midfielder Dragan Matic and goalkeeper Aleksandar Zivkovic for £3.2m and £500k and 6ft 4in winger Filip Dukic for £1m from Vojvodina. Those additions take Atalanta to 20 players with 5-star potential, 19 more with at least 4-star potential and no fewer than six wonderkids.
Mahtal was a little nervous about throwing his youngsters into Italy’s top tier, but confident the experience would help them realise that potential. Given the step up, he decided to stick with the 4-3-3 approach he’d brought in at the end of last season, but with a few cautious tweaks to the instructions. Star player Ihor Petrov has moved out to the right, giving wonderkid striker Federico Carpineta the massive responsibility of leading the line, with Kehl and Zecchinato coming into the midfield and defence.
Atalanta Steps Up To Serie A
The bookies fancied Atalanta’s chances of staying up, predicting them to finish 15th with title odds of 350/1. Milan are evens favourites to win Serie A ahead of holders Inter (13/5), Roma (9/1), Napoli (12/1) and Juventus (18/1). At the other end, Sampdoria are favourites to go down along with Monza, Bologna, Parma and Genoa. But it’s worth recognising that Atalanta have the lowest wage expenditure in Serie A, spending just £625k per week, just below Parma’s £650k and Genoa’s £750k, and miles off Milan’s £5.75m, Inter’s £4.4m and Juve’s £3.6m.
Life back in Serie A began away to Genoa with Petrov and centre back Camille Lavigne suspended. They went behind after half an hour but dominated the game, and a stern team talk saw an instant response through winger Dario Renna, who then laid on Kehl’s late debut winner. Their first home game saw Lazio come to town. Petrov’s excellent finish put them ahead just after halftime and a solid defensive effort earned a 1-0 win.
Kehl and Renna scored again to earn a point at Torino before two huge games in a week. First up, they faced relegation favourites Sampdoria and got battered for the first 25 minutes, but two moments of brilliance saw Carpineta tee up Petrov to put them in front. Petrov wrapped up his hat trick 75 seconds after the break, only to immediately concede again, but the Ukrainian secured all three points with a ludicrous 30-yard chip. A week later, they entertained Juventus, who’d courted Mahtal over the summer before appointing Sergio Conceicao. The visitors started strongly, but Petrov laid on Carpineta’s first of the season and, straight from kickoff, Kehl won the ball back and sent the striker in for his second. Atalanta defended well before letting in a late goal but held on for a huge 2-1 win.
That strong start was tested to the max in the next three games as they got dominated 3-0 at AC Milan, Petrov nicked a 1-1 at home to Napoli and got thumped 4-1 at Inter. With those games out of the way, Renna stepped up with assists for right back Lorenzo Perinelli, who cut inside and thundered a left-footed shot into the top corner from 25 yards, and midfielder Emanuele Conti in a 3-0 win at Monza before centre back Alberto Cantoro’s first senior goal rescued a 1-1 at home to Palermo.
The solid form continued as Petrov and wonderkid Alberto Mondino earned a 2-1 win at Fiorentina, before 1-1s against Parma, Udinese and Empoli. Kehl’s pair of second-half penalties earned a 3-1 win at Bologna and midfielder Luca Mauri created both goals in a fortuituous 2-1 over Cagliari. The year ended with a 1-0 defeat at Sassuolo before getting steamrollered 3-0 at home by Roma, but Atalanta went into 2039 sitting in a very pretty 7th position, 16 points clear of any relegation concerns. Atalanta’s solid showing in the first few months saw the board reward Mahtal with a new three-year contract that doubled his wages to £6,500 per week.
Building On A Strong Start
Atalanta disappointingly lost to Lecca in the Coppa Italia second round, so full focus was on Serie A for the remainder of the season. Their strong start saw Europe’s big boys circling around the likes of Renna, Mauri and Carpineta in January, but they just about held onto them.
They got back to winning ways as Kehl and Petrov inspired a 2-0 win at home to Spezia before Renna’s goal of the month-winning screamer earned a 2-2 at Lazio. Arguably the best performance of the season saw Renna, Lavigne, Mauri and Mondino down Genoa 4-1 and Kehl and Renna strikes earned a 2-1 win at Sampdoria to take Atalanta past the magic 40-point mark in early February.
A big test saw Inter come to town with most of their best players rested, and Atalanta delivered. Petrov headed the opener and Renna followed suit from left back Antonino Bacigalupo’s cross five minutes later. A horrendous error by Perinelli gifted a goal back but Petrov restored the two-goal lead, finishing a wonderful passing move that began with the goalkeeper. That began another run of games against the top four, and they were a little unlucky to lose 2-0 at Juve and 1-0 at Napoli, but completely bossed a home game against leaders Milan. Petrov put them in front with a delicious finish and the visitors equalised late on, only for Atalanta to go down the other end and Carptineta swept a delicious low 25-yarder past the keeper to seal a famous victory.
A big blow saw Rossi miss the rest of the season with a damaged spine suffered in a 0-0 at home to Monza. But with 10 games remaining, Atalanta sat 6th, 8 points off the Champions League places and only 3 points above 8th-place Lazio, who offered Mahtal an interview in April. They strengthened that position as Bacigalupo and D’Ottavio’s first Atalanta goals nicked a late win at bottom-side Palermo, they dominated struggling Fiorentina 3-0, Mondino bagged a brilliant hat trick in a 5-0 thumping of Udinese and Mauri, Kehl, Lavigne and Carpineta inspired a 4-0 hammering of Empoli.
That strong run virtually guaranteed European qualification and Carpineta’s goal at home to Bologna moved them 14 points clear of Lazio. But they suffered a 2-0 defeat at Cagliari before the in-form Carpineta laid on the opener and scored a five-minute brace to inspire a 3-1 win over Sassuolo. A draw at Roma on Mahtal’s 55th birthday and a final day 4-1 hammering of relegation-threatened Spezia saw Atalanta wrap up Europa League football.
Atalanta finished in an impressive 5th place with 71 points after 20 wins, 11 draws and 7 defeats, scoring 69, the same amount as champions Napoli, and conceding 44. Kehl finished as the joint-top assister in Serie A with 13 and only four players scored more than Petrov’s 17 league goals. At the bottom of the table, Fiorentina only avoided relegation by winning a playoff against Spezia.
The Future Burns Bright At Atalanta
Mahtal knew his Atalanta squad was brimming with potential but didn’t expect them to finish 5th in Serie A! Indeed, in their first season back in the top tier, Atalanta had beaten Juve, Inter and AC Milan at home, and only lost once at home all season (against Roma). Some of his young players had stepped up big-time this season, led by newly-monikered elite forward Petrov. The Ukrainian topped their scoring chart with 17 in 34, but Kehl was arguably their best player with 11 goals, 14 assists and a 7.13 average rating. Carpineta finished the season well as he got 9 goals and 8 assists, Mondino got 9 goals and 9 assists and Renna got 9 goals and 7 assists. However, all of these players were attracting the interest of Europe’s elite ahead of the summer transfer window.
Homegrown star Mauri made his Italy debut in March and Kehl came 2nd in NxGn 2039, with Perinelli 18th, Colapietro 22nd and Matic 47th. So the future of this club was certainly bright. And it became even brighter with a youth intake led by 5-star potential talents striker Salvatore Manini and Russian winger Daniil Tikhomirov.
Mahtal knew he had his work cut out to keep hold of Atalanta’s young superstars, but he’d also only let them leave for big money. And he’d need that money if he was to continue strengthening the club for a shot at European competition.
Could Atalanta continue to flourish as we move into the 2040s? Join us on Friday to find out!
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