Having become a benchmark for coaching in Serie A, whether with Genoa, but especially at Atalanta where he has built a formidable team since 2016 with the Dea, Gian Piero Gasperini (65) is respected for his work with the formation Lombard. The Orobici count with him in particular three Serie A podiums (3rd in 2019, 2020 and 2021) as well as a quarter-final of the Champions League in 2020. Currently fifth in the championship and again on the way to a good season, Gian Piero Gasperini and his players should again play the outsiders as often. However, this is not done at any price and it is common knowledge that the management of Gian Piero Gasperini often asks questions. If the tactical aspect of the Italian technician is never put back in coach, the human relations are more so.
The divorce with Papu Gomez, a first red flag
His strong character often caused friction in the locker room. While he was the star of the team, Alejandro Papu Gomez had fallen out with his coach, which led to his departure for Sevilla in the winter of 2021. A few months later, the Argentinian revealed the reasons: against Midtjylland (December 1, 2020 in the Champions League, editor’s note), I tactically disobeyed the coach. There were ten minutes left before halftime and he asked me to come and play on the left, when I was playing well on the right. I told him no. Imagine, having answered him like that, with the cameras… It was normal for him to get angry. I knew he was going to take me out at halftime, and he did. But in the locker room, he went overboard and tried to physically attack me.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s response was sharp: “Gomez’s behavior, on and off the pitch, had become unacceptable to the coach and his teammates. He was the one who physically attacked me, not me, but the real reason he left Bergamo was for grossly disrespecting the owners of the club. I hope Gomez can continue to make people talk about him with his performances, as he did at Atalanta. A difference of opinion between the two strong men of the Bergamo project which will therefore have led to a divorce. While since then, Atalanta has never managed to do better – while maintaining an excellent level – the very authoritarian management of Gian Piero Gasperini has become more and more something taken for granted. Many players have since spoken out to challenge this way of managing a group.
Other players had a bad experience of Gasperini’s management
Goalkeeper of Atalanta between 2017 and 2018, Pierluigi Gollini explained in particular that his departure to Tottenham then in loans to Fiorentina and Napoli was linked to his relations with Gian Piero Gasperini: “I did not leave because of a technical problem, but only for personal problems with one person.” In an interview for Sports/Football MagazineTimothy Castagne spent at Leicester and now at Fulham – who had evolved between 2017 and 2020 at Atalanta – had also emphasized the singular way of Gian Piero Gasperini to lead his players: “I stayed there for three years and it was really a great experience. And maybe it’s also me who sometimes has to learn to be a little more sure of myself. But the fact is that the Gasperini method did not always suit me.
“During a match, it’s a coach who gets angry very quickly, who has a lot of trouble controlling himself. I think I was never at 100% of my abilities there because of this way of working. Afterwards, I went to Italy to grow up and I grew up. I made a name for myself there, a reputation. I’d be crazy to spit in the soup today. I’m just saying that for me to be at the maximum of my abilities, I need an entourage with a different approach than that which a Gasperini can have. he continued. If he is unanimous on his qualities as a coach, on the human aspect, the transalpine coach does not attract the same excitement and the latest statements from the Danish side Joakim Mæhle will not help matters.
The poignant confidences of Joakim Mæhle
Trusting in Goal Italiathe 26-year-old player who left this summer for Wolfsburg returned to the reasons for his departure while insisting on his very complicated relationship with Gian Piero Gasperini: “I needed a new challenge at this point in my career. A team in which I can play a different role from the one I played at Atalanta, where there is always the risk of being on the bench. In Wolfsburg, you feel more like an integral part. A team where there is more unity and good humor in the locker room. It’s what I’ve been looking for for a while. I am happy to have arrived in a team where we feel that everything is under control. A real breath of fresh air for the player who was totally saturated under the orders of the Italian coach.
Regretting certain strict rules such as training always fixed in the afternoon and fairly limited freedoms, Joakim Mæhle did not hesitate to use strong words: “the almost dictatorial approach of Gasperini? You said it. I didn’t want to say it before, because I was afraid that you (the media, editor’s note) were writing one thing rather than another… (he addresses the journalist who is questioning him, editor’s note). That’s how he decided everything. If, for example, we were doing a double workout, we had to stay and sleep at the facility for the night. Then we weren’t allowed to go home. A management style based on fear? Yes a bit. You can call it mismanagement or whatever, I don’t know. At least I prepared myself for the next experiences in my career. You don’t feel like a person, I hear a number. You have no relationship with the coach. He can torment someone for strange things.”
Merih Demiral confirms Joakim Mæhle’s version
The Euro 2020 semi-finalist notably returned to a rather lunar scene. While the young Rasmus Højlund did not yet have the license and Joakim Mæhle took him to training, Gian Piero Gasperini quickly disapproved of this: “He didn’t want us driving together. Because that way we could sit down, chat together on the way to training, have fun. He didn’t want it and that’s why I was reprimanded. Even though the club told me I could take Rasmus with me to training because they didn’t have a driver for him. I don’t know if it’s typical of Italians, but it’s just certain things that make you angry and tire you in the long run.
An outing that is sure to get people talking and which was also hailed by Merih Demiral, his former teammate now at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia. The latter spoke on X (ex-Twitter) confirming the veracity of the words of Joakim Mæhle. The Turkish central defender also added this: “you will soon learn all the facts. Wait for the interview.” An imminent release by Merih Demiral on the subject could therefore happen soon. Anyway, this raises the question about the management of coaches. Since even if Gian Piero Gasperini has good results, he has human beings under his command and this data does not seem to be the most important in the eyes of the Italian technician…
