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Italian football executive known for his expertise and talent in player scouting; Andrea Berta will reportedly take over from Edu Gasper as the Sporting Director of Arsenal. The ex-Atletico Sporting Director is in talks nearing the advanced stage however nothing is sealed as of yet, as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano. Notably, Edu Gasper resigned from the position in November 2024 and since then the club has been operating with Jason Ayto, who is the Interim Sporting Director. The North-London club will hope to make Berta a permanent successor of Edu Gasper.
Arsenal, who are currently second in the Premier League table, have been linked with several top names like Martin Zubimendi, Joshua Kimmich, Hugo Ekitike etc. While all of these are just transfer rumours for now, a good sporting director could help Arsenal convert these rumors into some good business for the club.
Berta to bring a strong past-profile with him to Arsenal
Andrea Berta started the early days of his career in Italy by working with clubs like Parma and Genoa where he honed his skills of identifying good talent. He was in fact the Sporting Director of Genoa for three years from 2009 to 2012. He later went on to take the role of Technical Director with Spanish giants Atletico Madrid and climbed the ladder to become Sporting Director in 2017.
Berta was the Sporting Director of the Madrid outfit for more than seven years up until he left in January 2025. During this tenure, he has immensely helped Atletico build a solid team with some major player transfers and contract renewals. The team’s current season reflects his work in the last summer transfer window where Atletico hired the services of some top talents like Julian Alvarez, Alexander Sorloth, Conor Gallagher to name a few.
