Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Champions League, Football
Marcus Chan
Arsenal fans have been left stunned after discovering why potential new Sporting Director Andrea Berta reportedly turned a player down during his time with Atletico Madrid.
Back in November, Arsenal were rocked by the resignation of then sporting director Edu Gaspar.
The Spaniard joined the club in 2019 as Technical Director before being promoted to Sporting Director in November 2022.
A club statement read: "Edu Gaspar has today resigned from his position as our Sporting Director.
"Edu, our former player and Invincible, re-joined us in the role of Technical Director in July 2019. He progressed through the club and was promoted to Sporting Director in November 2022, where he oversaw men’s, women’s and academy football."
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Since then, Arsenal have been looking around in a bid to find Edu's replacement.
As reported by The Times, the Gunners want to make an announcement on their new Sporting Director this month, and Berta is said to be at the front of the queue.
The 53-year-old Italian was responsible for the signings of Jan Oblak and Antoine Griezmann, two of Atletico's best transfers in modern history.
However, there was one failed signing that caught the eye.
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Back in 2022, Atletico were linked with French midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who was at Ligue 1 side Marseille at the time.
However, the Frenchman ended up joining Premier League club Aston Villa, which caused a minor crisis at Atletico.
As reported by Football Espana, Berta went to Kamara's house to discuss the transfer, but everything went wrong from the moment the midfielder greeted him.
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It has been suggested that Kamara greeted Berta 'in shorts and barefoot, with three of his friends also present'. At that point, Berta quickly decided that Kamara would not have what it takes to play for Diego Simeone at Atletico.
However, according to Mundo Deportivo, Kamara denied the story in his press conference.