Arsenal's potential sports director Andrea Berta has shown that he is not afraid to splash the money – but it is who he has spoken over the years that concern with supporters.
The Italian spent a decade in Atletico Madrid and started as their technical director, but since 2017 served as sports director of the La Liga Club before leaving the Spanish giants in January. Berta has since been reserved as a target for Arsenal, given the departure of Edu from the role in November.
Reports in Italy suggest that conversations are in an 'advanced' phase and that a deal to appoint the 53-year-old will accelerate for a large summer transfer window for the Premier League side, which will probably miss the title after fighting for the top position for a third year in a row. While Jason Ayto took over on EDU interim basis, a deal is expected to be completed before a permanent successor to the Brazilian before the end of March.
In his eight-year-old reign in Madrid, Berta played an important role in the club that achieved a La Liga title, a Europa League triumph and the UEFA Super Cup.
Although he was responsible for the impressive signing sessions of people such as Diego Costa, Jan Oblak, Antoine Griezmann and – more recently – Conor Gallagher and Julian Alvarez, his transfer record are not all well reading.
He was behind the no less than £ 113 million movement for Joao Felix, which made the then 19-year-old the fourth most expensive football player ever. The Portuguese attacker failed to consistently show the promise he had shown in Benfica and was then borrowed from Chelsea and Barcelona before he was permanently sold to the English club for £ 42 million, a loss of £ 71 million for Madrid.
A year before Felix's arrival, Berta chose to force £ 63.2 million for Thomas Lemar from Monaco, who scored only three goals in his debut season before going through a nightmare two -year -old campaign in Spain. The Frenchman failed to register in a goal or an assist in 29 performances in all matches when Diego Simeone's formation change in a 3-5-2 saw that the winger reinforced himself as a central midfielder.
While Lemar-A former Arsenal target-white-a-athletico player remains, he has been struggling with injuries since 2023 and played only 54 minutes of football this season and last appeared in the competition in the competition in the competition in what a four-minute cameo was against Real Betis. If Berta concludes a deal with the Gunners, he has the job to deliver a long -awaited striker who, according to many fans, is the missing piece of their team.
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