Inter Milan GM Beppe Marotta has heaped praise on the work at Atalanta.

The Oribici have kicked off the season in superb form, building on last season's success at home and in Europe.

Marotta remarked: "The equation is not that who spends the most wins.

"The strongest clubs haven't always won. There is the Atalanta model, where I stayed twenty years ago for three seasons.

"They are very cost-conscious, but they are a club which for the second-to-third consecutive year is among the protagonists."