Atalanta, bench puzzle. Percassi-Gasp thaw

This is not the time to talk about the future of Gian Piero Gasperini. On the night of the direct clash lost against Inter, both the Turin coach and the CEO Luca Percassi, postponed the question of whether or not the coach would remain on the Nerazzurri bench until June. Three weeks after his announcement that he did not want to renew his contract further contract expiring in June 2026, the situation of the coach from Grugliasco remains fluid, open to multiple solutions. Ranieri would like him in Rome, for a two-year project to bring Lupa back to fighting for the title. And then there is the usual Juventus, who monitors Gasp but not only, for the post-Motta. But those in the know also talk about a Gasperini ready to stop for a sabbatical season, to catch his breath and then set up the last cycle of his career.

The certainty is the contract in force also for the next season: a contract that could be terminated early only at the request of Gasperini himself.Atalanta he doesn't have a name ready for the bench, not yet: many coaches are being monitored, from Italiano to Palladino, from Tudor to Sarri, but no candidacy seems to be taking off, at the moment. "We've been with the coach for nine years, ours is more than a marriage, any discussion will be addressed very calmly at the end of the year, always for the good of Atalanta, always remembering the great relationship we have with the coach, which is something exceptional", Luca Percassi recalled on Sunday evening, using his usual smile and conciliatory tones.

Three weeks ago in Empoli, the Nerazzurri CEO was more blunt about the possibility of Gasperini leaving: "If this is his position, we will accept it and we will come to terms with it". On Sunday evening, Gasperini changed his mind, reopening the possibility of staying in Bergamo with honeyed words on the square: "What the people of Bergamo have done for me has changed my life. If someone says that I have done a lot for them, it is not comparable to what they have done for me. I truly feel like the coach of a people". He then explained, answering about his renewal: "There is still time to talk about it. I have to stay where I am happy. It is not a personal issue, it is football: when you realise that perhaps what you want to do is no longer liked or does not correspond to the ideas of the club, it is right that others make the choices and I eventually adapt. If then there is a need to change, I will change". Every decision will inevitably also be linked to the final placing for a Goddess six points away from both first place and fifth place, which excludes them from the next Champions League.

Meanwhile, Gasperini will receive the National 'Enzo Bearzot' Award, assigned by the Unione Sportiva Acli with the patronage of the FIGC, next Monday in Rome, at 10.45, at the Salone d'Onore del CONI.