Andrea Berta’s best and worst signings as Arsenal close in on new sporting director | Football

Arsenal’s search for a new sporting director following Edu’s shock exit has lead them to former Atletico Madrid chief Andrea Berta.

The Gunners were left stunned last November when Edu resigned from his post after over five years of working behind-the-scenes at the Emirates.

Originally hired as technical director, the former Arsenal star had overseen many a successful transfer, helping transform Mikel Arteta’s side into title-contenders.

Following a dismal January transfer window, where they failed to sign anyone and address their lack of firepower up top, the club have stepped up efforts to find Edu’s replacemement.

The Times report that Arsenal hope to make an announcement on the matter by the end of March and have narrowed down their list of candidates, with the likes of Tomas Rosicky and Gilberto Silva linked.

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But Berta now appears to be the frontrunner having departed Atletico in January after 12 years at the La Liga giants, serving as their sporting director since 2017.

It is said the 53-year-old Italian wants a job in the Premier League and has been studying English in preparation.

Over the past eight years, Berta made 52 signings for Atletico at an estimated expenditure of €828million (£684m) and was influential in many more deals prior to that.

Andrea Berta’s best Atletico Madrid signings

Perhaps Atletico Madrid’s best two players of the past decade have been Jan Oblak and Antione Griezmann.

Oblak has consistently been regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world and practically a steal in the transfer market, costing £13m from Benfica in 2014.

Berta actually made a £64m profit on Griezmann after he signed the French World Cup winner, sold him to rivals Barcelona at a huge cost and then brought him back two years later on the cheap. In all, the forward has 197 goals and 91 assists for the club.

Though he only spent one season in Madrid, £24m signing Rodri is also among Berta’s success stories, with the defensive midfielder going onto win the treble and Ballon d’Or at Manchester City.

Sometimes the cheapest transfers are the best and that was certainly the case with Luis Suarez who was snapped up for just £5.5m by Berta after being controversially binned off by Barcelona in 2020.

Though 33 at the time, the former Liverpool striker delivered one last outstanding season as he fired Atletico toward the La Liga title, the second won during Berta’s time at the club.

Andrea Berta’s worst Atletico Madrid signings

Of course, not every signing has been success, with Joao Felix, currently on loan at AC Milan from Chelsea, among Berta’s flops.

The fourth-most expensive player of all-time, costing £113m, the Portugal forward never adapted to Diego Simeone’s style of football and after several loan moves he was finally sold to Stamford Bridge at a substantial loss.

Monaco’s title-winning team of 2017 featured many star players like Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva, so there was excitement when Atletico signed Thomas Lemar, then a Arsenal and Liverpool target, for around £58m.

29 goal contributions in 189 games and just four appearances in the last two seasons show the attacking midfielder wasn’t worth the hype.

Another seemingly no-brainer of a transfer was to re-sign Diego Costa for £50m after he was unceremoniously dumped by Chelsea in 2017, but his second spell at the club was a disaster, yielding just 19 goals in three years.

Additionally, Berta signed current Arsenal target Matheus Cunha and Gunners fans may be hoping for some deja vu following his explosive form for Wolves this season.

He wasn’t outstanding at Atletico, though the real transfer mistake was letting him leave Madrid too soon.

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