Ivan Jurić is the new manager of Atalanta. He came after Gian Piero Gasperini and will be in charge until the end of the 2027 season. Jurić was available after a failed stint at Southampton. He has previously managed Roma, Torino and Verona. I don't think he's very successful. It looks like Atalanta didn't find a better alternative and brought him. I don't think he will be more successful than Gasperini. But we'll watch and see.
It seems like there are really a lot of surprises in the current transfer market. To be honest, I didn't even understand the reason behind Atalanta letting go of their coach after we saw that Atalanta was quite successful under Gasperini's coaching. Well, even though it wasn't a huge success. But last season Gasperini even managed to bring Atalanta into the European league.
And now Gasperini has gone to AS Roma. And the funny thing is that Atalanta even took Ivan Juric to replace Gasperini. And we know Ivan Juric once coached AS Roma too and yeah it wasn't very successful. So I don't understand what made Atalanta feel it was right to bring in Ivan Juric. But I'm sure Atalanta also knows better what their team needs. So hopefully Ivan Juric will be successful at Atalanta. Because it seems that Ivan Juric just hasn't found a team that suits his coaching style. And maybe at Atalanta he can find a match.
But this season is really quite interesting. Because it seems like so many teams have changed coaches. Well this exceeds last season in the number of coaching changes.
It still hurts to think of the Atalanta-Gasperini "breakup." After nine years, five Champions League campaigns, and a Europa League trophy, it's "time for something new". Atalanta didn't only lose a coach. They lost the man who established their whole football identity. The board's reasoning is based on "system preservation mode". They didn't want any random person from outside to come in and destroy the high-pressing, attacking DNA. Juric? He did poorly at Roma and Southampton, but he's just an exact copy of Gasperini's tactics. The risk is easy to understand: can the system work without the original designer? Fans aren't sure, but Atalanta thinks the plan is more important than the artist
And you're correct, the coaching circus in Serie A this season is crazy. Milan, Juve, Inter, Napoli, Roma, and Atalanta are all pushing the reset button at the same time. It could be purposeful, or even preemptive. Everyone is trying to get ahead before the new UCL structure and the Club World Cup change things up. Even transfers seem to be happening too quickly, even before the managers have a chance to sit down. It's like everyone is trying to get a winning lottery ticket before the drawing