Back in March, Arsenal appointed Andrea Berta as their new sporting director, with the Italian having completed a swift return to football following his Atletico Madrid exit at the start of 2025. His time at Los Colchoneros, which totalled over 11 years, ended on a sour note as he was no longer deemed necessary by the club, and now his handling of a certain matter has been called into question.
In July, Saul Niguez left Atleti after 17 years, but it was during the previous summer that he was told he had no future at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano. He was told this by head coach Diego Simeone, and as per Cadena SER (via Diario AS), he opened up on that meeting with the Argentine.
“The season that I was going to leave, he came and told me that he didn’t count on me. He himself was even surprised at how I answered him – I just thanked him.
“It’s difficult to say to a player who has been with you for so many years: ‘Hey, next year I’d rather you are not here. I prefer to have other players’. You can throw things in his face, but I was the opposite: ‘Mister, you have given me the opportunity to fulfil my dream, to play for Atletico Madrid, you have taught me a lot, thank you’.
Saul: “Andrea Berta was not totally honest with me”
While Saul credited Simeone with his no-nonsense approach to that delicate topic, he criticised the one taken by then-sporting director Berta, who dealt with him before his loan move to Sevilla in summer 2024.
“I was a player of the academy, who I have always tried to help the club, although there are people who reproached me for not lowering my salary… I lowered my salary when Atletico asked me to, I have been paid in promissory notes when they have asked me to, even now I have done things so that they have facilities. I have always said yes to everything.
“I was very surprised by that negative energy that was around me. There were people I didn’t care about. Miguel Ángel (Gil Marin), (Enrique) Cerezo, Cholo… Those people showed it to me. But in this case, the sporting director, Andrea Berta, was not totally honest with me, and I have even seen evidence. He denied this, but I have seen evidence. I told him not to lie to me. All that hurt me, because if he had done things right with me, he would have sat down with me, we would have talked to each other’s faces and we would have looked for a solution.”
