View attachment 1166230
Atalanta have made some decent signings as they aim for a top half finish in Serie A after a poor last two seasons.
Marlos, Chris Smalling, Marouane Fellaini, Florinel Coman, Emerson and Marcelo Brozovic will all be important first team players for Massimo Carrera this season.
However some are baffled at manager Carrera’s decision to start right back Hans Hateboer in the first league game against Napoli, only to then loan him out to Cagliari leaving the squad without a recognised right back.
View attachment 1166231
To make matters worse, the club are heading towards serious financial issues with chairman Dr. Tony Xia quoted saying “I don’t want to put the blame on anyone, but the Inter chairman told me we’d pay Brozovic £78,000 a week because it was a C2C deal, not £110,000.”
View attachment 1166232
When pressed on whether his inability to understand the league rules was perhaps the reason why his club pays so much in Brozovic’s wages, Xia remained silent.
And when asked on whether his decisions to buy striker Andrea Favill for £5.75m in the last transfer window (when he played only 5 games all season) and pay veteran full back Rafinha £22.500 a week (when he is slower than 55 year old Carrera) were also factors that contributed to Atalanta’s financial plight, Xia stormed out of the press conference.