THE LETTER. The Albanian defender on Instagram: “Here I became a man, it was an honor to fight for these colors.”
Read more Atalanta, new tests for Sulemana
Reading 4 min.
Now yes, it is official: Berat Djimsiti leaves Atalanta, after ten years and seven months with the Nerazzurri, interrupted only by loan spells at Benevento and Avellino. The defender is going to Saudi Arabia, to Al-Diriyah, where he will most likely end his career.
Djimsiti said goodbye to Atalanta fans with a long letter published on his Instagram profile.
Djimsiti’s letter
“I am a person who firmly believes that things in our life happen for a reason. The good things, as well as those that, at the moment they happen, we may not yet understand. I believe that life gives us opportunities. Sometimes we recognize them immediately, other times only many years later. And I believe it puts challenges in front of us through which we are called to grow.
If today I look back ten years, I see the boy who arrived in Bergamo. I came from another country, with another story, but with a very simple dream: to prove my worth, in football and in life. I have never been a person of many words. I have always preferred to work, fight, and let my actions speak for me.
Perhaps not everyone knows that ten years ago it was not at all expected that Bergamo would become my home. Sometimes, however, life decides differently than we had imagined. And ten years ago it decided that I would stay.
Today I know that was one of the most important opportunities of my life. An opportunity to show who I was, to work, to challenge myself, to grow. And I tried to deserve it every single day. Not with big words, but in the only way I knew: with work, discipline, perseverance, and the will not to give up. Step by step, I was no longer just a player who arrived in Bergamo. I became part of Atalanta, part of this city, part of this story.
Today I could write entire pages about football. About matches, Europe, victories, defeats, nights we will never forget and achievements that ten years ago we might have only dreamed of.
We all know what we have achieved together. But today I realize that I want to talk especially about something that, for me, is even more valuable: people. The people who make Bergamo what it is. The people who make Atalanta what it is. The people who made this journey possible. Because when we look at what we have become, we must never forget where we started from.
We must not only look at the final image. We must remember the journey: the days when no one knew where this road would take us, the work no one saw, the defeats, the doubts, the moments when we simply had to get up and keep going. Nothing was given to us. We earned it with work, discipline, sacrifice, courage, heart, and above all together.
Maybe that is exactly why Atalanta and Bergamo belong so deeply to each other. Because this team carries within itself the character of its city. The Bergamasco does not need big speeches. He works. He knows that respect must be earned, that a given word has weight, and that in life you fall, but you get back up. He is proud, but his pride does not need to make noise. And the pride of someone who knows where he comes from, protects his family, defends his values, and fights for what he loves. And that is exactly what I found also in Atalanta. A team that perhaps never made more noise than others, but that never stopped working, believing, and getting back up.
And then there are you. Our fans. In ten years we have lived incredible moments, but also difficult moments. And I believe that people are not truly known when everything goes well. They are known when things get tough, when you lose, when doubts come, when you have to find the strength to start again. And you stayed. You suffered with us, you fought with us, you pushed us when we flew and you stayed there even when we fell. You never asked us to be perfect. You asked us to fight, to respect this shirt, these colors, this city, and to leave the field knowing we gave everything. And maybe that is why our bond has been so strong. Because we recognized ourselves in the same values.
In the end, results become numbers. Matches become memories. Trophies remain in the showcases. But the people we meet along our path and what they leave inside us, that remains. And Bergamo has left a lot inside me. I arrived here as a young footballer. Here I became a man. Here I became a father. Here my family grew. Here my children grew up and here they built some of their first memories. And I hope they will always carry with them something of what this land has taught us: concreteness, respect, work, loyalty, pride, and that great heart that often hides behind few words.
Maybe, for me, the feeling of home started in a very simple place: Giuliana’s trattoria. One of those first places where a foreign country slowly began to become familiar, where unknown people became friendly faces. Then other meetings came, other people, other memories, until Bergamo was no longer just the city where I played football. It became our city.
Atalanta was no longer just the team I played for. It became our team. And many people met along this journey became part of our life. That is why today saying thank you is not enough.
Thanks to my teammates, with whom I fought, suffered, celebrated, and lived moments I will always carry with me. Thanks to all the coaches, the staff, and every person who works every day for this club, often away from the spotlight. Thanks to the Percassi family, for the trust, for the opportunity, and for everything you have built for this club. Thanks to our fans. And thanks to Bergamo and its people, for welcoming me and my family and for making us feel part of something.
Finally, thanks to my family, for sharing every step of this journey with me, in the good times and the more difficult ones. Today a new chapter begins for us. I know that changes are part of life and that, sometimes, you have to find the courage to close one door to open another. But there are doors that, in reality, never close completely.
Because you can leave a team. You can leave a city. But a home we carry inside us. Ten years ago my story perhaps had to be different. Life decided that I would stay. And today, ten years later, I know it could not have decided more beautifully. That is why I do not want to say goodbye. Some bonds do not end with the last match. Some stories do not end when a chapter closes. There are places that become part of who we are. Bergamo, for me and my family, will always be one of those places.
It was an honor to wear this shirt. It was an honor to fight for these colors, it was an honor to be part of this story. Wherever life takes me, a part of me will always stay here. Thank you for everything, Bergamo. Thank you for everything, Atalanta. Forever in my heart.”
Read more Atalanta, consensual termination with Andrea Fabris
