Gasperini elects not to renew Atalanta contract
Gian Piero Gasperini has no plans to stay on at Atalanta beyond the expiration of his current contract, which he may extend to 2026.
The veteran was appointed Atalanta coach in 2016, has turned around the club's fortunes in his nine-year spell, transforming it from a mid-table side to a UEFA Champions League regular and a UEFA Europa League champion.
Under the 67-year-old, Atalanta won the UEFA Europa League last season with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the final, a team that had gone the entire season unbeaten until that match.
Gasperini, whose team takes on Empoli on Monday (AEDT), is under contract until June 2025 with an option to extend it for another year.
Asked if Atalanta, which is third in Serie A with 51 points from 25 matches, could secure qualification for the UEFA Champions League this season, Gasperini replied: "I have little time to do this, maybe it's the last one.
"Rightly so, as has been said there is a beginning and an end, we'll see at the end of the year whether to go for expiry or to stop, certainly there will be no continuity. There will be no further renewal and continuity."
Atalanta has become one of the most entertaining teams in Serie A under Gasperini's tutelage.
Since he took charge, it has scored 641 league goals, which ranks behind only defending champion Inter Milan (668) in that time.
However, Gasperini did cause some upset over the past week when he blasted Ademola Lookman after the striker's penalty miss against Club Brugge.
Lookman, Atalanta's hero last season when it won the UEFA Europa League, pulled back one goal for the Italian side when it was 3-0 down.
But the Nigerian, who has scored 15 times this season, had a penalty saved, which Gasperini said Lookman was not supposed to take as Charles De Ketelaere and Mateo Retegui were on the pitch.
In a post on social media, Lookman said Gasperini's comments singling him out were "deeply disrespectful" and hurtful.
Gasperini said: "It had an extraordinary impact, everything that came afterwards ... it was not meant to be an offensive sentence.
"Yesterday in Udinese-Lecce we had what could have been a drama, luckily there were guys who let it go. I would have liked a strong player like Lookman to have made a gesture towards De Ketelaere saying 'come on keep the ball, put it in'.
"He can become a penalty taker, that would be an additional goal-scoring ability. I always speak in front of the whole team, it has never touched the club. He felt offended, I didn't want to offend anyone."
