Atalanta reach 3-year contract with coach Gian Piero Gasperini

Gian Piero Gasperini gives instructions to his players during a Serie A soccer match. (Tano Pecoraro/AP Photo)

BERGAMO, Italy — Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini has signed a new three-year contract with the Serie A club.

Gasperini will stay in Bergamo until at least 2020. The deal, announced Thursday, also includes the option for a further season.

Gasperini joined Atalanta from Genoa in June and despite an initial poor start, he has guided Atalanta to the brink of Europa League qualification.

His team of mainly young and homegrown players is fifth in Serie A, nine points clear of seventh-place Inter Milan, with three matches remaining. The top six qualify for Europe.

The 59-year-old Gasperini says he is “proud to be here and motivated to keep on doing better and better.”

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