Andrea Berta’s Best And Worst Signings As Sporting Director

Arsenal’s new Sporting Director Andrea Berta has been at the top level of football for over a decade now and has had a major influence on a number of key signings, mostly for Atletico Madrid. The Gunners are in desperate need of a new striker and a creative midfielder too, so they’ll be hoping that the Italian can provide just that. He certainly helped Atletico Madrid back to the top of European football with his signings, however there were some that weren’t that good. Here are his best and worst signings as a Sporting Director.

Andrea Berta’s Worst Signings

Somehow, despite disappointing since signing in 2018, Thomas Lemar is still an Atletico Madrid player. Initially bought as a winger following a couple of good years in Monaco, Lemar has since been moved into a central midfield position, however that was only after he was a complete failure out wide. Atleti forked out £63m for him just before the World Cup in 2018, but he has scored just 10 times since then and played just four games over the last season and a half due to recurring injuries and poor form.

Not quite as bad as Lemar, Diego Costa’s third and final stint in the Spanish capital was one that was forgettable and poor. The Spanish striker returned to the club as a hero having scored 27 goals in their 2013-14 title winning campaign, however between 2018 and 2020 he managed just 19 in 81 matches. He cost the club £67m and left for free, agreeing to terminate his contract with the club in December 2020.

The most obvious criticism of Berta’s signings will be Atletico Madrid’s move for Joao Felix in 2019 for over £100m. Despite being a striker, the Portuguese footballer scored just 34 times across four seasons at the club, costing them £3.32m per goal. He made a total of 131 appearances for the club, and while he was a part of the team that won the 2020-21 La Liga title, he scored just seven goals during that campaign. He has since moved to Chelsea and is now at AC Milan on loan.

Andrea Berta’s Best Signings

One of Berta’s first signings after he joined Atletico Madrid from Italy was a young unknown centre back from Uruguay called Jose Maria Gimenez. He signed for under £1m in 2013 and immediately became a key player for Diego Simeone’s team. Gimenez’s career with Atletico has been fantastic and despite a few injuries, he has managed to keep his place in the team for over 10 years, racking up 348 appearances and five trophies, including two La Liga titles and a Europa League.

The one player that has put Berta’s name into the Atletico Madrid history books is Antoine Griezmann. The club bought the Frenchman from Real Sociedad for £30m in 2014 and he managed to score 133 goals in five seasons before he was sold to Barcelona for in excess of £100m. He was a major flop for them, so he returned to Atletico Madrid in 2021 initially on loan before he joined permanently for around £20m. Since his return he has scored 64 times. His 2022-23 campaign was particularly impressive as he managed 31 goal involvements over just 38 games.

In 2020, Luis Suarez was told by Barcelona that he was no longer wanted at the club, not a particularly nice way to treat a player that has scored 147 goals for the club. He signed for Atletico Madrid for just £5m and it turned out to be a massive coup for Berta. Suarez didn’t even have a bad season with Barcelona before he was sold, scoring 21 goals in all competitions. He replicated this in the following season for Atletico Madrid, however all of his goals came in the league as they won the title. He spent another year at the club, scoring 13 times, before he left for his native Uruguay.