Few clubs in Europe can boast of such scouting as Bologna in previous seasons. The culmination of Rosoblu’s many years of good work was the historic last season and the placement in the Champions League. Although all the credit is usually attributed to coach Thiago Motta, whose career was revived by Bologna and eventually put him on the bench of Juventus, perhaps greater recognition for the success should be given to sports director Luigi Sartori, the creator of the once wonderful Chievo from the early 2000s and later the ‘founder’ of modern Atalanta.##EDITORS_CHOICE##He brought Motta to the club. He bet on Joshua Zirkzee, who arrived as a talent that Bayern did not trust, and two years later he moved to Manchester United with a net profit of at least 15,000,000 euros for Bologna. He found the anonymous Arthur Theate in Oostende for 6,750,000 and a year later sold it to Rennes for 19,000,000. In Aberdeen, he discovered Lewis Ferguson for only 2,000,000, in Young Boys for 3,000,000 euros Michel Aebischer, in Hoffenheim for 300,000 Stefan Posch (he later bought him for 5,000,000), in Basel Riccardo Calafiori for 4,000,000 and Dame N’Doye for 9,000,000, in AZ Alkmaar Sam Beckham for 9,000,000 and Jesper Karlsson for 11,000,000… All those players are worth at least twice as much today. Some even many times more, and the most drastic examples are Calafiori and Zirkzee.##NAJAVA_MECA_8228732##And this summer, before the historic appearance in the Champions League, Sartori continued to hunt in all corners of the world. With 10,000,000 euros, he bet on Atalanta’s Nicolo Cambiagi, for 7,000,000 euros he brought Swedish midfielder Erik Holm, bought his favorite Remo Freuler from Nottingham for only 4,500,000, brought the excellent Juan Miranda from Betis for free… A master of his craft – Luigi Sartori.Today, he confirmed one of the biggest signings in club history – a reinforcement who should replace Joshua Zirkzee. Bologna’s new striker is Thijs Dallinga, also Dutch, from Toulouse. Bologna paid the French club 15,000,000 euros for compensation – virtually the entire profit from Zirkzee’s sale. He signed a five-year contract worth 1,600,000 euros per season.🚨 OFFICIEL : Thijs Dallinga quitte le TFC et signe à Bologne 🥲 pic.twitter.com/gjj2wH69QU— Mon Ptit Tef (@monptitef) July 23, 2024 Dallinga was not recognized by Dutch clubs when he was young. Groningen thanked him after only one year in the young team and released him for nothing to the camp of the then-second-division Excelsior, where he exploded and scored 32 goals in 37 matches. He was spotted by Toulouse scouts and moved to France for just 2,500,000 euros. There, in two years, he scored 26 goals in Ligue 1 and apparently passed Bologna’s scanner. The club from Stadio Renato Dall’Ara brought him as the most expensive reinforcement in the history of the club if you don’t count what they additionally paid to Bayern for the percentage after the transfer of Zirkzee. So far, Bologna’s most expensive purchase was Riccardo Orsolini, who was also paid 15,000,000 five years ago.
