Arsenal’s next sporting director: Assessing the 13 strikers Andrea Berta signed for Atletico Madrid
Arsenal are closing in on the appointment of former Atletico Madrid sporting director Andrea Berta and we’ve checked out his track record when it comes to signing strikers.
It’s no secret that the Gunners will be chasing a new number nine over the summer and it seems likely that it’ll be one of Berta’s top priorities if he is given the job.
We’ve gone back throughout Berta’s time as Atletico Madrid’s sporting director from 2017 to 2025 and have assessed the 13 strikers that he signed during that time.
Diego Costa
After enjoying a three-year stint in the Premier League with Chelsea, Atletico Madrid re-signed Costa in January 2018.
The Spanish international was by no means as prolific during his second spell at the club, but he did chip in with a few important goals.
In total, Costa scored 19 goals in 81 appearances upon returning to Atletico. He also played a small role in their 2020–21 La Liga winning campaign.
Nikola Kalinic
In the summer of 2018, Atletico signed Kalinic from AC Milan in a deal worth £12.5million.
While the Croatian international had a decent strike rate in Italy, Atletico Madrid fans never really saw the best version of him.
After only scoring two league goals during his debut season, he then spent the following year out on loan with Roma.
In 2020, the club then cut their losses on Kalinic and sold him for a loss to Hellas Verona.
Nicolas Ibanez
Atletico signed Ibanez from Mexican side Atletico San Luis in 2019 before immediately sending him back out on loan.
The Argentine forward spent two years on the books at Atletico but never made a single appearance for the club.
A strange signing.
Joao Felix
By far the biggest signing that Berta has ever made.
Signed for £113million from Benfica, Felix is the fourth most expensive transfer of all time, only behind Philippe Coutinho, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
While the Portuguese forward did show flashes of quality, he struggled to nail down a consistent starting spot in Diego Simeone’s side.
Then, three years into his Atletico Madrid career, it became clear that the club was willing to offload their record signing.
Following a couple of loan spells, Atletico eventually sold him last summer to Chelsea for a fee of around £42million.
That’s a £71million loss they took on him. Ouch.
Ivan Saponjic
The Serbian forward joined Atletico in 2019 for a fee of around £400,000.
In total, he spent two years at the club and made five appearances but never managed to find the back of the net.
He was eventually sold in January 2022 when he joined Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava on a free transfer.
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Alvaro Morata
After initially joining Atletico Madrid on an 18-month loan deal, the deal was made permanent in 2020 for a reported fee of £58million.
During his entire stint with Atletico, the Spaniard scored 58 goals in 154 appearances, averaging a strike every 163 minutes.
After spending the last few years with Diego Simeone’s side, Morata departed last summer and joined AC Milan for a fee of around £11million.
Luis Suarez
Atletico’s decision to take a punt on Suarez turned out to be a masterclass.
In 2020, the Uruguayan was deemed surplus to requirements by Barcelona, but he quickly came back to haunt his former club.
Suarez scored 21 league goals during his debut season in Madrid and fired Simeone’s side to the league title in the process.
In total, he made 83 appearances for the club across two seasons and scored 34 goals. Given they only paid £5million to sign him from Barcelona, we can definitely put that one down as a good deal.
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Moussa Dembele
Atletico signed Dembele on loan in January 2021 and they had the option to purchase him for around £28million.
However, the striker only made seven appearances for the club and failed to hit the back of the net. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t trigger their buy-option.
Matheus Cunha
The Brazilian never quite hit the heights that were expected of him in an Atletico Madrid shirt as he only scored seven goals in 54 appearances for the club.
However, they still managed to flip him for a sizeable profit when offloading him to Wolves in 2023 for £35million.
Since leaving Atletico, Cunha has taken his game to the next level, having produced 19 goal contributions this season. It’s safe to say that his current market value is far more than the £35million that Atletico sold him for.
Antoine Griezmann
Berta played an absolute blinder in the transfer market in regards to Griezmann.
After initially selling him to Barcelona for £100million, he re-signed the Frenchman just a few years later for £18million.
The 33-year-old continues to be a key player for Atletico Madrid today, having scored 64 goals since arriving back from Barcelona.
Memphis Depay
In January 2023, the club took a punt on Depay and signed the Dutchman for an initial fee of just £2.6million.
Given the price they paid, a return of 13 goals in 40 appearances was by no means a disastrous return for the former Manchester United star.
After spending a year and a half with Atletico, Depay left the club in 2024 and joined Corinthians on a free transfer.
Alexander Sorloth
Following his eye-catching season with Villarreal in 2023-24, Atletico swooped in and splashed around £27million on the Norweigen international.
Up until this point, most of his appearances have come from the bench, but he’s still managed to make an impact despite his limited game time.
Across all competitions, he’s scored 13 goals, averaging a strike every 113 minutes for Simeone’s side.
Julian Alvarez
Alvarez was last striker signed by Berta and he could turn out to be his best signing yet.
On the back of two trophy-filled seasons with Manchester City, Atletico Madrid lured him to Spain, with a reported transfer fee of £81.8 million.
The Argentine international has made a fast start to life in Spain with 22 goals and five assists in his first 41 appearances for the club.
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