Andrea Berta: Arsenal Sporting Director’s Best and Worst Signings—Ranked

Former Atlético Madrid sporting director Andrea Berta, now at Arsenal, has delivered some brilliant signings—and a few real duds—over the years.

Not all of Andrea Berta’s signings work out well. / Getty/David Price

Andrea Berta was appointed Arsenal’s sporting director in March 2025, succeeding Edu Gaspar and ushering in a new era behind the scenes at the Emirates.

Berta cut his teeth in his native Italy with Parma and Genoa but truly made his name at Atlético Madrid, where he spent four years as part of the club’s boardroom staff before assuming full control of their transfer strategy in 2017—a position he held until his departure.

A major part of Berta’s role at Atlético involved identifying and securing key signings, helping to shape one of Europe’s most competitive and well-drilled sides. It’s a skillset he has already begun to bring to Arsenal, with the Italian making an immediate impression during his short time in north London.

Across his career, Berta has struck gold with several outstanding transfers—but there have also been a handful that didn’t quite go to plan.

Here are Andrea Berta’s best and worst signings.

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Andrea Berta’s Best Signings—Ranked

5. Rodri (Villarreal to Atlético Madrid, $23.5 million)

Rodri was sold and then bought back by Atléti. / Getty/David S. Bustamante/Soccrates

Rodri came through Atlético Madrid’s academy but was released before ever making a senior appearance. After impressing at Villarreal, Atlético quickly realised their mistake and moved to re-sign the midfield general for around $23 million in the summer of 2018.

The transfer flew largely under the radar across Europe, but within 12 months Rodri was a household name after Manchester City activated his $83.5 million release clause—beginning his transformation into a future Ballon d’Or winner.

Not only did Berta spot Rodri’s potential earlier than most, but he also managed to flip the Spain international for a huge profit after just a single season.

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4. Marcos Llorente (Real Madrid to Atlético Madrid, $47 million)

Marcos Llorente has reinvented himself. / Bruno Penas/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Crossing the Madrid divide is always controversial, but Atlético did not hesitate when they brought Marcos Llorente over from Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 as a replacement for Rodri.

For a player who had made just 39 senior appearances for Madrid and had been told by Zinedine Zidane that he was not part of his plans, $47 million fee initially raised eyebrows. In hindsight, however, it proved to be a masterstroke from Andrea Berta and Atlético.

Identified as a perfect fit for Diego Simeone’s system, Llorente has gone on to make well over 250 appearances for the club, becoming one of the manager’s most trusted and popular players.

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3. Leonardo Bonucci (Inter Milan to Genoa, $4.7 million)

A fresh faced Leonardo Bonucci. / Getty/IPA Photo

Berta helped Genoa turn a tidy profit on a fresh-faced Leonardo Bonucci in the space of just one month, selling him to Bari for $12.4 million in the same transfer window in which he had been signed for just $4.7 million, back in 2009.

In hindsight, he may wish he had squeezed a little more out of the deal—especially given Bonucci would go on to establish himself as one of the finest centre backs of his generation and earn a move to Juventus the following year for nearly double that fee. At the very least, Genoa supporters were denied the chance to see one of the modern game’s great defenders play for their club.

Still, a 160% profit in 30 days is no small achievement.

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2. Luis Suárez (Barcelona to Atlético Madrid, $8 million)

Luis Suarez was a bargain for Atléti. / Getty/Juan Manuel Serrano Arce

Like many across the football world, Berta and Atlético were stunned when Barcelona decided in 2020 that a 33-year-old Luis Suárez was more of a hindrance than a help. Atlético wasted no time in capitalising on their rivals’ decision, snapping up the Uruguayan for just $8 million.

It wasn’t a fashionable move, but Berta and those overseeing recruitment knew exactly what they were getting. They were proven right almost immediately.

Suárez spent two seasons in Madrid. In his first, he scored 21 La Liga goals and fired Atlético to the league title. He then added a respectable 11 goals in his second and final campaign.

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1. Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona to Atlético Madrid, $23.5 million)

Antoine Griezmann is Atlético Madrid’s all-time top scorer. / Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images

The Antoine Griezmann saga is the purest definition of a transfer masterstroke from Atlético Madrid and Berta.

Griezmann first arrived in 2014, when Berta was Atlético’s technical director, and developed into one of the best players in world football. Atlético then sold him to Barcelona for $141 million, only to watch the Frenchman struggle in Catalonia.

Crucially, Atlético never lost faith. In 2021, they brought Griezmann back on loan, and once again he was sensational. Berta and Atlético then further exposed Barcelona’s financial mismanagement by refusing to activate the $47 million purchase option, instead extending the loan into the 2022–23 season.

It was eventually confirmed that Griezmann would return permanently for just $23.5 million—meaning Atlético sold him and bought him back for a sixth of the price. Truly sensational business.

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Andrea Berta’s Worst Signings

5. Viktor Gyökeres (Sporting CP to Arsenal, $85 million)

Viktor Gyökeres is yet to get going for Arsenal. / Robin Jones/Getty Images

It’s not yet been a full season, so it may feel harsh to include Viktor Gyökeres on this list—but his start at Arsenal following his $85 million move from Sporting CP in June 2025 has been, frankly, underwhelming.

The Gunners were expecting a proven goal machine, the missing piece who could finally fire them back to the Premier League summit. Instead, Gyökeres has looked more like a bumbling big man than a clinical striker, struggling to control the ball and finding the net mostly through sheer luck—most of his seven goals up until Christmas have been flukes rather than moments of brilliance.

There’s still time for redemption, of course, but the fact that Mikel Arteta has already been deploying Mikel Merino—a midfielder by trade—up front instead is hardly a vote of confidence.

Next. Gyokeres bio. Viktor Gyökeres: The Man Behind the Mask. dark

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4. Diego Costa (Chelsea to Atlético Madrid, $70 million)

Costa's second spell at Atléti was a disaster. / Getty/Power Sport Images

Diego Costa will always be a popular figure at Atlético Madrid, but there’s no escaping how strange the circumstances surrounding his 2017 return to the club were.

Frozen out by then-Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, Costa spent the summer training alone—famously on a beach—after the transfer window closed, and made it clear publicly that Atlético was the only destination he was interested in.

With Costa desperate to return and Chelsea keen to offload him, Atlético appeared to hold all the leverage. Despite that, they still paid around $70 million for a player who would see his contract terminated just three years later.

Simeone’s insistence is widely believed to have driven the move, but in hindsight it stands out as one of the more questionable pieces of business of the Berta era.

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3. Thomas Lemar (Monaco to Atlético Madrid, $84.5 million)

Thomas Lemar was a disaster signing by Berta. / Getty

Arsenal famously failed with a $117.5 million bid for Thomas Lemar in 2017, just 12 months before Berta and Atlético Madrid pulled the trigger on their own move for the Frenchman.

They clearly weren’t alone in placing a lofty valuation on Lemar—even if, in hindsight, it proved to be misplaced.

Lemar remains contracted to Atlético but is now firmly out in the cold, spending the 2025–26 season on loan at Girona, where he has again made little to no impact. Injuries and underwhelming form have defined his time with Atléti, which has yielded just 10 goals across seven seasons.

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2. Jackson Martínez (Porto to Atlético Madrid, $41 million)

Jackson Martínez never got going for Atléti. / IMAGO/Cordon Press

If you haven’t guessed by now, Berta’s transfer record with strikers is... mixed, to be generous. Some turn into world-beaters, others flop spectacularly.

Jackson Martínez very much falls into the latter category.

Expectations were sky-high when the Colombian striker joined from Porto—where he’d scored 92 goals in three seasons—for a fee of $41 million in 2015.

Instead, just six months later, Atlético president Enrique Cerezo admitted that Martínez “was not at the level” of the club. He was swiftly sold to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande, ending his only campaign with Atléti almost as soon as it began.

At least the club made a small profit—but even that feels like a minor consolation for what was supposed to be a marquee signing.

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1. João Félix (Benfica to Atlético Madrid, $148 million)

Felix is one of modern football’s most baffling players. / Getty/Gabriel Buoys

Atlético stunned the footballing world when they paid a staggering $148 million to sign 19-year-old João Félix as Griezmann’s replacement in the summer of 2019.

At the time, Félix was widely viewed as the next generational superstar. While the fee was enormous, it wasn’t entirely unfathomable given his talent and potential. However, that price tag would ultimately come to haunt Atlético. Across a mixed four-year spell, questions over Félix’s suitability under Diego Simeone never went away, and he struggled to consistently justify the investment.

After failing to meet expectations, Félix was shuttled between Chelsea, Barcelona and AC Milan, before eventually being sold to Chelsea at a loss of around $87 million.

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