The success or failure of a team is often not dictated by a single factor. Just like Bologna, who are currently fourth in the Serie A table, can be attributed to the football wisdom of young coach Thiago Motta, the fiery form of leading scorer Joshua Zirkzee, or you can dig deeper and meet a player who helped Chievo Verona, Atalanta transform into a European team, and "The Athletic" even relegated to "Andersen of Italian football" Technical Director of Credits for His Ability to Turn Stones into Gold: Giovanni Sartori.
The older generation of Serie A fans believe that the memory of the "flying donkey" Chievo Verona is still fresh. Although the Verona city team was disbanded in 2021 due to financial difficulties due to the pandemic (former captain Sergio Perissier later founded FC Clivense and is currently competing in the D League), Giovanni Sartori's 22 years as director of football have produced unimaginable results for a Serie C team, such as two Champions League qualifiers and the Europa League under Luigi Delneri, as well as Barzagli, Perrotta, A generation of Italian internationals such as Nicola Lerotale and Amaury have made fans turn the taunts from neighboring Verona (Chievo Verona is as difficult as a donkey can fly) to "take it for themselves" into a totem of pride.
In 2014, Giovanni Sartori was hired by Atlanta, and after two seasons of painful periods, he cooperated closely with Gian Piero Gasperini, who took over the handsome seal, and once again showed his unique ability to find talents, and his territory crossed the country, including Robin Gosens, Ruslan Malinovsky, Maten Druen, etc., with the transfer strategy of "buy low and sell high" and rely on their own youth training, even if the main force is lost, it can quickly fill the vacancy, letThe "Nerazzurri" has become a regular in European competitions and even the Champions League. According to Torino Sport, the 66-year-old technical director rarely appears in home games or strong team battles, preferring to spend more time on Serie C and Serie Ding matches to discover the pearls of the sea, and also make good use of databases such as Wyscout to screen potential targets, but not showing the edge is the way to success.
In 2022, Giovanni Sartori was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame and moved to Bologna for a new project. "We look at the coach as well as the players: we are impressed by the aggressive, proactive and methodical way in which Thiago Motta leads Spezia. Despite the sad news of the death of beloved former coach Sinissa Mihajlovic from cancer, and the departure of Marko Arnautovic, the soul of the recent season, the team has entered the "harvest period" in the second season. Riccardo Orsolini also put in a high-level performance, establishing a steady start in possession, a fluid counter-attack, and a non-stop run to create open spots, and has won back-to-back victories in the past week against Roma, Atalanta and Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia to defend their title.
The last time Bologna made it to the European Championship was the 1999 2000 season (not counting the 2002 Toto Cup) led by Giuseppe Signori and Gianluca Pagliuca in the last century. Coaches and players can resist the poaching of major giants, and I believe that this revival project still has a great future.