UAn upset for his mother and the beginning of a fairy tale for the barely 12,000 inhabitants of Carpenedolthe small town located 30 kilometers from its Orzinew native, in the province of Brescia. It was what produced the risky decision, with only 32 years old, of the director of the branch of the Pompiano bank giving up his comfortable position to give himself up to his passion for soccer. Today, just ten years after he first embarked on a journey of the Atlético (a Riazor specifically), it is confirmed that this young man who dominated even the last amateur player in northern Italy, was simply forging himself as the best signing on the market. His self-taught and pioneering method has turned Andrea Bertha in it Europe’s most coveted sports director.
“We were a group of friends who had a fan club. After winning two or three tournaments, we decided we needed a sports director and the coach told us he knew of a very young man only 27 years old that he had met at the summer night tournaments. used to organize to earn a little money. He told us that he worked in a bank, but that He had a very strong passion for football and that he knew all the players in depth. We contacted Andrea and she began to dedicate herself to us in the afternoons, after finishing her working day at the bank, “recalls the then vice president of the club about Berta’s first steps in football, Enrico Viola.
Four years later, the overtime of that banker had already placed Carpenedolo on the map of Italy. “We began to climb categories until we entered professionalism after conquering the Amateur National Championship. The credit went mainly to Andrea, who had a special sense, understood the needs of the team, the characteristics of the players… We were a group of entrepreneurs and with him we managed to win and have sustainability, he brought us good and cheap youngsters” , account.
It had a special meaning, with it we managed to win and have sustainability, it brought us young and cheap players
would arrive too the moment that would change the life of that young prodigy. “There he had to make a decision: continue with the bank or cultivate his dream. And he chose the latter. It was very risky, but Andrea has great tenacity, great self-confidence and is a very balanced person. His mother was a bit worried because she was leaving the bank for professional football, but for a category in which she was going to earn less money than in her job”, she details.
After winning the National Amateur Championship and leading us to professionalism, he had to choose between continuing on the bench and cultivating his dream. chose the latter
However, the baptism in C2 (the fourth category of professional football at the time, after series A, B and C1) in the 2004-05 academic year would only be the continuation of the miracle worked by Berta in Carpenedolo, where they have woken up from that dream for a long time, returning to live today in the Eccellenza League, the second category of fans. “He built a very strong squad, we competed against clubs from important cities like Mantua, Verceli, Piacenza… and in our second campaign we played the final of the promotion playoff that we lost in Ivrea (piedmont) with an arbitration…”, recalls Viola about the work of Berta that would catapult him to Calcio at the hands of Thomas Ghirardione of the investors of the modest club launched to purchase the Parma.
A new miracle in Parma
It was between bankruptcy and bankruptcy of one of the most emblematic clubs in the country when Andrea Berta would leave his mark for the first time in the elite. “It was a very complex club, with a very important history, but a very difficult present. There were non-payments to the players, there was no money to travel and above all, there was no future. But after Ghirardi’s call to Andrea, the sports part began to work very well”, explains Giovanni Branchini, witness to the irruption of Berta in Calcio from his position as a reputed agent for soccer players in Italy.
“First he chose a good coach as Guidolinthen to a very big one like Donadoni. He also brought back from the Shaktar a Lucarelli; he signed Corradi of the Citya with Mari of Sweden… And complemented it with a great base of young Italian players like Zeno. he managed to finish sixth and qualify for the UEFA, despite the fact that the club already had many financial and legal problems. He did a miracle because there were only difficulties. During this period, Andrea built all the respect for him, Andrea was put on the market, “he recalls about a management that would leave its mark.
Ahead of his time
see in the Griezmann from Real a potential world champion, pull a stranger out of the hat cloud before becoming one of the best goalkeepers on the planet or discovering that Ligue 1 was hiding a huge defense like Reinildo at bargain prices are today the reflection of the amazing ability that Berta already showed to reach any corner of mud football with the sole support of his own tenacity. “I lived for football, I had many informants, I watched all the summer games… I had an impressive database with notes on all the players in northern Italy, not only about the game and their statistics, but about their character, profession , family (before signing one he spoke with his father, his brother)… Which today is normal in modern football, but 20 years ago and in an amateur category it was not,” Viola highlights.
He had an impressive database and did what is normal today in modern football, but 20 years ago and in the amateur category it was not.
“Not much has changed. It is the same system that you use now, with the difference that we have technological means that did not exist then. Today it is easy to see how someone plays, but it is different to go see him train, find out how he lives, how he goes out… There are people who approach football for money, but in his case it was all passion. He continues with the same style of work that he had at Carpenedolo”, Branchini seconded.
Nor has it changed that even though the successes in the signings cannot be explained without her clinical eye, Berta has always preferred to operate in the shadows. “She does not forget her origins, she is still very simple, she does not like to pretend. Although the merit was hers, she did not appear in the media, he was a man of deeds, not of words“, Viola ditch about the great architect of Atlético forged in his Carpenedolo.
Non-negotiable principles
Although his silent arrival in May 2013 occurred as a reinforcement of the Sports Department that he commanded at the time walkerAndrea Berta would demonstrate from the first day her ability to handle herself in the market, assuming the position for all purposes in 2017. “She entered through a small door, but since she has no personal vanity, it did not cost her anything to be patient, respect the people that there were and begin to do their job slowly to grow until they dominate their position and become what they are today”, explains Giovanni Branchini, one of those who, taking advantage of the relationship that has united him since he was a representative of Albertini y Torrisiwill recommend Miguel Ángel Gil to hire him.
Today no one has any doubt about the determination with which he drives Bertha. “He doesn’t let himself be carried away by enthusiasm, friendships or media comments. Before closing a player he has to be very convinced, he is not an easy client. For those who want to place a player in Atlético it is very complicated because they think and analyze until the end, make decisions very prudently,” he says.
He does not get carried away by enthusiasm, friendships or media comments, he makes decisions very prudently
Seriousness, caution and firmness that does not understand exceptions. “He knows and is respected by all, but he is not close to one or the other, but always keeps his distance. I am a great friend of his and it is very significant that in ten years no player at Atlético will fit him. This serves to get an idea of what Andrea is: if he doesn’t convince her, she doesn’t convince him, whoever he is. That doesn’t happen in football with anyone else,” he emphasizes.
A way of acting with which he has earned a unanimous recognition. “His characteristics are very difficult to find because he is a very competent and highly respected person, but with a low profile. Things are said about everyone, but no one questions his transparency and honesty. That is another very difficult detail to get into their position,” he says.
Things are said about everyone, but nobody doubts his transparency and honesty
Some principles that have also led him to reject major proposals from giants as PSG, United, City, Chelsea, Juventus… “He is happy to play his role. He has always been a club man, he has never had personal vanity or tried to sell his image. Despite his successes, he has always remained in his dimension, faithful to property. He is very happy at Atlético”, settles his supporter.
2023-05-21 03:03:05
#great #signing #jumped #bank
