New Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta's five best transfers

Analysis

Andrea Berta is set to become Arsenal's new sporting director.

After much speculation, the 53 year-old Italian has been working with Atletico Madrid since 2013, first as a technical director. Then in 2017 he was promoted to sporting director, holding that post until January 2025.

Now he's set to take over at Arsenal, replacing Edu as sporting director responsible for overseeing footballing operations at the Emirates.

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He arrives in North London with a tremendous reputation, but is it earned? FootballTransfers has had a look at his transfers and come up with the five best ones.

5. Julian Alvarez

From: Man City

For: €75 million

It is perhaps a bit "obvious" to spend nearly €100 million (if all the add-ons are met) on a player who has won the Copa Libertadores, Champions League (as part of a Treble), Copa America and World Cup...

But nevertheless, Andrea Berta spent big to bag Alvarez in the summer of 2024, and thus far it is proving to be a fantastic bit of business (unlike the other time he spent big on Joao Felix but let's all pretend that didn't happen, eh?)

While a lot of Berta's work has been trying to nudge Diego Simeone in a more proactive "footballing" direction, Alvarez suits Atleti and Simeone down to the ground. He presses like a demon, is unselfish with the ball but has the killer instinct to thunder the ball home when needed.

Unless PSG come in to sign him, it's unlikely he'll leave the club either (given Barcelona don't have the financial leeway to sign him and Real Madrid have too many strikers as it is) he's not likely to leave anytime soon either. He's going to be an Atleti legend.

4. Rodrigo de Paul

From: Udinese

For: €35 million

Back in 2021, Atleti were looking to build on their success winning La Liga and so wanted a special midfielder. Someone who could put in the defensive shift that Simeone demanded but also had the ability to, y'know, play.

Enter Rodrigo de Paul.

For Udinese he had been a winger or attacking midfielder, but Berta envisioned him playing a deeper role at the heart of the team, and it has been thus. His success even carried over to Argentina where he played a massive role in their World Cup win.

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De Paul is now a fundamental piece of Simeone's war machine. A relentless force of physicality and football. He's produced goals against Barcelona and assists against Real Madrid in this season alone. And for €35 million?

3. Antoine Griezmann

From: Barcelona

For: €22 million

Antoine Griezmann first signed for Atletico Madrid in 2014 and gave the club five brilliant years of wonderful football. But then he left for Barcelona in 2019, and while Berta needs praise for extracting €120 million for the Frenchman in that sale, he needs even more for what happened next.

Griezmann flopped at Barcelona. There's no question about that. He didn't play well at all, and never looked comfortable. Many would have taken this as a sign of a flaw in Griezmann, or taken it personally that he left Atleti at all.

Berta did neither, and instead waited for Griezmann's stocks to be at their lowest and then he bought. First he snagged Griezmann on a two-year loan as Barcelona were just desperate to get rid of him, then made that loan permanent in 2023 for just €22 million. A hysterically low price for what was and is one of the best players in La Liga.

Masterclass.

2. Marcos Llorente

From: Real Madrid

For: €30 million

Marcos Llorente is descended from Real Madrid royalty. But despite being the son of Paco Llorente and great nephew of the immortal Paco Gento (he of 12 La Ligas and 6 Champions Leagues) he never quite made it at the Bernabeu.

Berta identified that this was not down to a flaw in Llorente, but rather Madrid not giving him a chance, and signed him for a relatively cheap €30 million back in 2019. The young Llorente instantly settled in with Atleti, with Simeone turning him from a mediocre defensive midfielder into a phenomenal box-to-box dynamo who can also play wing-back to a very high level.

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Llorente was a key driving force behind Atleti's title win in 2020/21. He scored 12 times in La Liga (11th among all players) and made it a double-double with 11 assists (2nd among all players). He was phenomenal, they literally would not have won La Liga without his quality.

1. Luis Suarez

From: Barcelona

For: €9 million

Success for Atletico Madrid is defined by being competitive. Playing in a league against the two biggest clubs in the world, anything more than finishing third is an incredible overachievement.

Winning La Liga itself is a miracle.

Andrea Berta pulled off a miracle in 2021.

It started in 2020 when he convinced Barcelona to sell Luis Suarez to them for just €9 million. The Blaugrana wanted to get rid of Suarez both to shed his salary but also allow the team to move on to a (theoretically) more mobile striker.

Suarez did look finished at Barcelona, for what it's worth, but Berta is a smart man and understands the power of spite. And while his body was falling apart, Luis Suarez's rage and spite at being forced out by the Blaugrana drove him to put together an incredible season with Atleti.

Suarez ended the season with 21 goals, fourth in the division, but that was after his body had finally given out during the run-in. Suarez's goals had fired Atleti to the summit of La Liga by gameweek 9 and they remained there for the rest of the season (bar gameweek 32). By the start of February, Suarez had scored 16 times and Atleti were well on their way to winning it all.

Sure, Suarez only really gave Atleti that one season. His second saw him score only 13 times and he returned to Uruguay that summer.

But for those first few months of 2020/21? Luis Suarez was driven by hate and delivered unto Atletico Madrid the glory of a La Liga title win.

For just €9 million.

Andrea Berta, bravo sir!