Vincenzo Italiano has already started planning his future, and Bologna are determined to stave off the advances of AC Milan.
Calciomercato.com report that after winning the Coppa Italia at the helm of Bologna – the first major trophy in his career – the coach has made an appointment to talk to the management of the Rossoblù club, with his lawyer Francesco Caliandro.
They will discuss strategies and plans for the upcoming season, therefore also the transfer market, and obviously contracts. Italiano’s deal runs out in June 2026, but the desire of the owner Joey Saputo and the management of Bologna is to extend it by another year, if not two.
Milan waiting for news
Italiano currently earns a salary of just over €2m net per season, which could be raised either in the fixed part or with bonuses, or both. After a first participation in the Champions League and a first trophy in over 50 years, the desire is to make it a ‘golden era’ for Bologna.
As an ambitious coach like Italiano would expect at this point, the club must show they want to go even further, with a transfer window – to be conducted by Giovanni Sartori and Marco Di Vaio – that raises the level of the squad.
The directors will evaluate the opportunity to sell a couple of top players for a high price, to reinvest the proceeds in the consolidation of the current squad. This happened with the departures of Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori a year ago, for example.
Italiano is happy at Bologna and has reiterated this on more than one occasion. He knows he is one of the most popular and up-and-coming coaches in the Serie A panorama, with Napoli previously keen before they got Antonio Conte.
Milan and Roma are the two clubs that would look favourably upon him if Italiano considered his adventure at Bologna over. Today’s meeting, far from definitive and do-or-die in the minds of both parties, will be important to dictate a line.
Dis guy wins one trophy in his career and now he is good enough to coach Milan just because he is an Italian…
Alternatively, this guy overachieved with two different clubs in the last two years, implementing a modern high pressing game, despite the clubs’ best players (Calafiori, Zirkzee, Amrabat, Igor, Cabral) being sold.
Now I don’t think he’s the right person personally, but I thought the same with Pioli and was happy to be wrong.