Hojlund to Man Utd: Atalanta make €388m PROFIT on just 13 players
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 31 Jul 2023 06:38 BST
- 6 min read
For more than five years now, Atalanta have proved themselves to be pound-for-pound the best-run club in European football.
Despite being a small provincial side with a total salary bill the equivalent of an English Championship club, Atalanta have continued to punch above their weight.
They qualified for the Champions League for three successive seasons between 2018 and 2021, being just seconds away from making the semi-finals in 2019-20. All while playing some of the most exciting and attacking football on the planet.
READ MORE: Premier League 2023/24 summer transfers: All the Done Deals
The secret to their success – away from the brilliant coaching of Gian Piero Gasperini – has been a magnificent youth academy, scouting system and transfer policy.
Atalanta have developed more quality youngsters than any club in Italy over the past decade, while they have also been among the best in Europe at discovering and developing youngsters.
This has enabled Atalanta to buy players cheaply – or for nothing at all – and then sell on for a heavy profit.
The most recent profitable sale is Rasmus Hojlund. The Denmark striker joined Atalanta 11 months ago for €17 million from Sturm Graz.
Less than a year later he has now been sold to Man Utd for €85m. That represents a profit of €68m.
In 11 months, Atalanta managed to quintuple the value of a player who started just 20 games for the club and scored 10 goals in all competitions.
But Hojlund is just the latest in a long line of Atalanta players who have been sold at a huge profit.
In January 2022, Atalanta made a massive profit when selling Germany international wing-back Robin Gosens to Inter Milan.
He had been signed for €1m from Heracles in 2017 and was sold to Inter for €22m plus €3m in add-ons in 2022. A likely €24m profit.
The summer before, Cristian Romero was signed permanently from Juventus after one year on loan and immediately sold on weeks later for a €39m profit to Tottenham.
In January 2021, Atalanta sold teenager Amad Diallo for an eventual €41m to Man Utd. He had come through Atalanta’s youth system and played just four senior games before being sold for a fortune. Amad has yet to find his feet at United and has been loaned out to smaller clubs outside the Premier League.
In the summer of 2020, Dejan Kulusevski was sold to Juventus for €35m having played only three games for Atalanta. His price had soared after a successful loan spell at Parma in 2019-20. Kulusevski subsequently struggled at Juve, who sold him on to Tottenham.
There are countless examples of Atalanta youth products who cost the club nothing being sold for massive sums. Alessandro Bastoni and Roberto Gagliardini were offloaded to Inter for a combined €53m, Franc Kessie and Andrea Conti to Milan for a combined €52m and Mattia Caldara to Juventus for a maximum of €25m.
Smart investments have also yielded dividends. Bryan Cristante’s career was resurrected before he was sold to Roma at a €21.5m profit. Timothy Castagne was sold to Leicester at a profit of €17.5m.
The other point to note is that there is an alarming number of players Atalanta sold for big money who failed to live up to the promise they showed in Bergamo.
Atalanta profits on transfers since January 2017
Paid: €50.1m
Received: €438m
Profit: €387.9m
The list goes on and on. Above are 13 players who have been sold since January 2017 alone. All together they have created an incredible profit of €387.9m in transfer fees alone.
The best-run club in football, indeed.
