Sinisa Mihajlovic has not yet clarified his future with Bologna, admitting he would ‘evaluate’ offers, but jokes he’d ‘rather go to the dentist than face Atalanta.’
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The first questions in the press conference were naturally about his meeting with club patron Joey Saputo, as Mihajlovic’s future remains in the balance.
“We met and talked about many things, not just football. The President is as ambitious as I am. Our mutual objective is to improve the team, then we’ll see if we manage it, considering Bologna have to deal with the financial difficulties caused by the pandemic.
“At the moment, everything is up in the air. I know what Bologna need to be in the top half of the table, namely keep all the current players while adding a centre-forward and a centre-back, but that is not possible.
“So we’ll meet up again after we’ve seen what these final six games give us. I want to underline there will never be a problem with Bologna. It was a positive meeting with the President, who confirmed what I said, that we need to improve the team.”
Having said that, Mihajlovic also raised question marks over his own future.
“Whatever happens, there will always be the utmost respect between us. I have two more years on my contract, I am happy here. If an offer were to come in, I would evaluate it, but I am not thinking about what might happen.
“I care about the work, not money. If I received an offer from a big club that didn’t have a project, then I would say no. We started with a project here at Bologna, then it was stalled by the pandemic, and the same is true of all clubs.”
Tomorrow Bologna will face Atalanta with striker Musa Barrow, who is a product of the youth academy in Bergamo.
“Don’t forget that in order to keep him, the club has to pay another €15m, so that’s €15m we won’t have on the transfer market. I get angry with Barrow because I know he can give more.”
Mihajlovic also joked about Pep Guardiola saying that facing Atalanta was like going to the dentist.
“I fall asleep at the dentist sometimes, I find it quite relaxing. It was only ever a trauma when I was a child and they had no anaesthetic… Maybe Guardiola needs to get a better dentist, I’d much prefer the dentist to facing Atalanta!”