The black-and-blue U18s closed the season with a final sixth placement in their group and only five points away from the Top-3.

Stefano Lorenzi, the appointed coach of Atalanta’s U18s has commented as follows:

“During the course of the whole season, we’ve been through various phases, where our lads undertook all the necessary steps and readied themselves to take the plunge for an eventual entrance into the dynamics of the Primavera. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a top-notch group: graced by an impeccable commitment, will and readiness and whose training ethos and proactive mindset have been beyond reproach throughout the season”.

“If I have to assess our course in the league – as coach Lorenzi cares to go on -, we were off to a bad start and were hampered by a handful of untoward outcomes. Although it took our lads quite a while to fit in the squad dynamics and to override their approach, performances eventually picked up as time went by. And despite all the hindrances and the mistakes made along the way, also due to a lack of experience from time to time, I think my lads have proven themselves capable of bouncing back putting it all down to experience. As I do not deny that we had a really bumpy start, hitting rock bottom when we found ourselves at the bottom of the table, I likewise think this crucible really put our lads to the test and, from that moment on, also allowed the whole group to bring out all the best they had in them. Although during the campaign we gave playing time to many players, we must give credit to the hardcore and the backbone of the group for always being there and for passing along their enthusiasm in each and every training session. This allowed us to gain a sense of self-consciousness in the long run and, as our new-found confidence also impacted on our performances, everything snowballed into a truly budding season’s finale. The only regret for our initial setbacks stems from the fact that, had we not missed the mark in Venice, we would have been in with a chance to contend for the Top-3 in the closing outing against Torino and, who knows, maybe even for the Final Stage”.

“A further source of satisfaction – these are Lorenzi’s closing remarks – stems from being a helpful trait-d’union between the Primavera and the Under 17, allowing players, who eventually proved themselves useful for other Academy sides, to garner playing time. To delve deeper into the importance of the U18s, not only did the team give injured players, such as Falleni and Cellerino, the time and space to gradually get back into training and regain momentum; but it also served as a springboard to step up to the Primavera either for a stint (as for Mendicino, thanks to his many solid performances) or for a more tangible and reiterated token of trust from Bosi -such were the cases of Candas, Manzoni and Meloni, backbones of the U18s.

I’m genuinely impressed by the progress made so far by many other players and I already see them ready to carve out a spot for themselves next season: after all,  seeing this fills us all with pride since it is the reason and the main aim of our work”.