From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.43 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clock did what Frosinone would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Charles De Ketelaere falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marco Sportiello and Atalanta agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Feb 2027
Fiorentina made Atalanta work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match6 Feb 2027
Atalanta are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Hellas Verona to sit and watch. I want to come back to Atalanta and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 26 matches say the rest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Inter, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Atalanta and Frosinone have settled on $4.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market1 Feb 2027
Nikola Krstović has left for Sassuolo in a $15.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atalanta have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Campobasso had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The deal with Lecce is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 5 out at Atalanta
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Atalanta
Raoul Bellanova and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bologna had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.42 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market25 Jan 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Market25 Jan 2027
Dion Cakolli has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Charles De Ketelaere was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
Atlético Madrid pay $46.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market18 Jan 2027
Torino come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Atalanta did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $46.1M sale of Éderson
He is going to Atlético Madrid, the club has $46.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Atalanta had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Torino, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Giorgio Scalvini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Charles De Ketelaere falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Atalanta asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match16 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Atalanta against Napoli
1‑2 to Napoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Vinko Kolaković has come up in conversations Atalanta were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Vitoria Guimaraes had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market11 Jan 2027
Atalanta say no — this time
The offer from Empoli for Gianluca Scamacca was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pineto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Atalanta
Giorgio Scalvini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market11 Jan 2027
Atlético Madrid are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Atalanta will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles De Ketelaere is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match9 Jan 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Eljif Elmas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Atalanta.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.98, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Atalanta will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Davide Zappacosta again, and this time the name on the line is AJ Auxerre. Atalanta are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.40 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Torino is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mauro Casoli gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mauro Casoli has just signed for Atalanta, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éderson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Atalanta scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.38 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Charles De Ketelaere falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
Sassuolo made Atalanta work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Dec 2026
Halfway: Atalanta sit in position 3
41 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A defender's afternoon for Éderson
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑4 to AC Milan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match19 Dec 2026
After 10 games, Atalanta finally taste it again
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against AC Milan; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Charles De Ketelaere falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Atalanta dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Atalanta, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Giacomo Raspadori's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Dec 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Tigre had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Match9 Dec 2026
Como ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad14 Dec 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match12 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Atalanta did not have in the autumn.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Alejandro Altuna: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Atalanta
Raoul Bellanova and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Éderson was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Dec 2026
Atalanta cannot stop winning
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match5 Dec 2026
Cremonese will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Atalanta were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match7 Dec 2026
Atalanta are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.38 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles De Ketelaere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Nov 2026
Charles De Ketelaere wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Charles De Ketelaere found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Genoa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Match28 Nov 2026
Atalanta cannot stop winning
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market30 Nov 2026
Atalanta may not be able to give Éderson what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Éderson wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles De Ketelaere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.31 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match28 Nov 2026
Atalanta are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Charles De Ketelaere’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Atalanta.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Atalanta right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Giorgio Scalvini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Éderson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A move Ellis Lehane would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ellis Lehane is living that version at Atalanta, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Juventus, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikola Krstović
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Atalanta support went home talking about one name.
Market23 Nov 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
In brief
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Squad
Atalanta are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Loan watch
The goals keep arriving from Daniel Maldini’s exile
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
Atalanta cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Charles De Ketelaere falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Atalanta
Giacomo Raspadori and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eljif Elmas. 1‑0 against Lecce, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.27 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Atalanta game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hellas Verona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties Atalanta
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match4 Nov 2026
Atalanta march on in the cup
Novara are out and Atalanta go through, 4‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match9 Nov 2026
Atalanta are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Nov 2026
Atalanta make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Atalanta have 4 straight wins of it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Atalanta
Giorgio Scalvini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles De Ketelaere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Éderson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Udinese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.94 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Atalanta had the best player on the pitch.
Market2 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alejandro Altuna has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Atalanta.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Tommaso Ferrari, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
11 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Pisa, and it could have been more.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éderson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Éderson at his very best
Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Atalanta.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Tommaso Ferrari, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dion Cakolli is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles De Ketelaere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Franck Kessié was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑1 to AS Roma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamaldeen Sulemana, and the manager let it.
Market19 Oct 2026
Éderson linked with a move away
The name of Éderson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Atalanta say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Richie Sagrado dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Atalanta
Giorgio Scalvini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Oct 2026
Three points for Atalanta, 2‑1 the final word against Bologna in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Hellas Verona to sit and watch. I want to come back to Atalanta and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Rowe has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Atalanta can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikola Krstović
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Charles De Ketelaere falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Franck Kessié
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Tommaso Ferrari left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Davide Zappacosta. Atalanta will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Chances created: 10. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Charles De Ketelaere wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Charles De Ketelaere found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Fiorentina went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market28 Sep 2026
Atalanta may not be able to give Éderson what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Éderson wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles De Ketelaere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Giacomo Raspadori was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Charles De Ketelaere. 1‑0 against Fiorentina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lazar Samardžić, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
2‑5 to Inter, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Charles De Ketelaere provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Atalanta
Giorgio Scalvini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match19 Sep 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Atalanta and Inter in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Isak Hien
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Atalanta dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davide Zappacosta and Atalanta agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davide Zappacosta, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Atalanta
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Atalanta, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Atalanta are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market14 Sep 2026
The Éderson talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atalanta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
Giacomo Raspadori wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Giacomo Raspadori found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Napoli went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Charles De Ketelaere reports back to Atalanta with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Atalanta asked and Parma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 9 in, 5 out at Atalanta
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Lazio is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match5 Sep 2026
Atalanta make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Atalanta have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Raoul Bellanova was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Éderson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
The chase for Gabriele Piccinini ended with $15.1M changing hands and Pisa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Éderson was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Benevento wanted more than $510.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Atalanta
Vinko Kolaković and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éderson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 3‑1 win over Torino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Atalanta asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
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Player ratings
One of those days for Gianluca Scamacca
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Isak Hien's mistake
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$15.1M settles it between the clubs for Gabriele Piccinini
Pisa have accepted the money. What Atalanta do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match22 Aug 2026
4‑0, and Gianluca Scamacca took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Atalanta tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market24 Aug 2026
Odilon Kossounou has left for AS Roma in a $22.1M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Gianluca Scamacca takes the afternoon — 9.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gianluca Scamacca provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Franck Kessié goes up and wins it — 7.89
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for Richie Sagrado ended with $1.6M changing hands and Venezia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market24 Aug 2026
Espanyol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Atalanta did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$1.8M was the most the club would pay and Sassuolo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Richie Sagrado gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Richie Sagrado has just signed for Atalanta, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Atalanta say no — this time
The offer from Mainz 05 for Charles De Ketelaere was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
AC Milan pay $19.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$1.8M on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Atalanta have gone to Benevento with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Éderson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Michieletto and Atalanta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fiorentina have kept their man, and Atalanta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Espanyol have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marco Sportiello. The answer from Atalanta has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Atalanta say no — this time
The offer from Inter for Marco Carnesecchi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Charles De Ketelaere and Atalanta agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Atalanta
Marco Carnesecchi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Atalanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mattersburg have kept their man, and Atalanta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Francesco Rossi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Atalanta.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
144 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Éderson signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Éderson commits to Atalanta for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Atalanta
Marco Carnesecchi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles De Ketelaere is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Atalanta asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atalanta, another week without a signature from Sead Kolašinac.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.