Welcome to Calcio Square, an email newsletter dedicated to Serie A and Italian football. Every Thursday, Anthony Lopopolo picks out a player, team, coach, or trend that's making waves in Serie A. Today's issue is about Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini.

Gian Piero Gasperini spent much of 2024 picking off some of the best coaches in the game. He outfoxed Manchester United-bound Ruben Amorim across four Europa League matches against Sporting CP. Then he derailed Jurgen Klopp's final goodbye from Liverpool. He found out Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen when no one else could — in the Europa League final of all places — and most recently handed Antonio Conte his first home defeat as Napoli's savior-in-chief.

Gasperini has had a great year. But he didn't parlay his success into a move away from Atalanta, the club he's coached for the last eight years. He isn't itching to climb the European ladder like the 30-somethings of this coaching generation. Gasperini, now 66, is happy where he is because he has everything he needs in Bergamo: a competitive team, regular entry into European competition, and a front-row seat at one of Italy's most modern stadiums. This isn't the time to play a game of chance. He should know as he's bungled it before, gambling and losing in 2011 when he was sacked by Inter after just five matches.

He's now built enough credit to last a lifetime as the longest-tenured coach in Serie A. He's turned Atalanta into a mean man-marking machine. The gears turn even when they lose big pieces. But their philosophy isn't just about finding replacement parts. It's about unlocking the potential of players who have struggled to realize who they are.

Over the last year alone, Gasperini has helped Mateo Retegui, Ademola Lookman, Gianluca Scamacca, and Charles De Ketelaere play the best football of their careers. Many arrivals need weeks and sometime even months to get up to speed. It's why Lazar Samardzic, Atalanta's €20-million replacement for Teun Koopmeiners, has only started twice despite starring for Udinese last season.

There are times when the whole apparatus falls apart, disintegrating under a heaping cloud of debris like an old cartoon figure. Atalanta can lose their equilibrium, and like the players Gasperini meets for the first time, the team sometimes needs weeks and months to become whole again. But he has time to get it there.

Maybe that's the real reason why he still is where he is. Atalanta aren't Manchester United or Liverpool or even Napoli. They don't set out to win every title in every competition. Time isn't counted the same way in Bergamo. Atalanta can live with a bad start to the season, as they endured at the beginning of this season, dropping all the way down to 12th place in Serie A. They can live with it because they know Gasperini will eventually do something great with the extra time he has.

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