Alessio Cerci “wanted Bologna at all costs,” but the Atletico Madrid man is confident he can make the move in January.
He arrived at the Stadio Dall’Ara on deadline day only to see the transfer scrapped after a medical.
“The doctor told me I needed a longer time to recover from my knee injury and I’ll only be ready at the end of November, so it all fell apart. It goes without saying that I was disappointed,” Cerci told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Alessio Cerci “wanted Bologna at all costs,” but the Atletico Madrid man is confident he can make the move in January.
He arrived at the Stadio Dall’Ara on deadline day only to see the transfer scrapped after a medical.
“The doctor told me I needed a longer time to recover from my knee injury and I’ll only be ready at the end of November, so it all fell apart. It goes without saying that I was disappointed,” Cerci told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“I thought that I’d have been ready in a month or at most 40 days. I wanted Bologna at all costs. I considered it the right club and city for me to reboot my career. I’ll add more: Roberto Donadoni is someone I admire so much as a Coach and a person.
“Donadoni is someone who teaches football and I’d have grown even more with him. We’d have had fun together. I expressed to him all my joy at arriving for Bologna.
“Now the important thing is that I fully recover. I’ll just have to deal with it if there are an extra few weeks. I wasn’t expecting it, as I could see myself wearing the Bologna jersey. We were all upset at the way it ended.
“I hope this is not a farewell, but a see you soon. Once I complete my recovery, Bologna will hopefully think of me again. I was so happy to reunite with my friend Mattia Destro too.”
Cerci already had loan spells at Milan and Genoa, so what went wrong with Atletico Madrid?
“When I arrived at Madrid, I hadn’t done pre-season training and it was difficult to settle in, so after four months I left and for a big club that invested a lot of money in you, that’s not ideal. After that it was difficult to patch things up.
“I had no problems with Diego Simeone, as he was the one who wanted me in Madrid, but Atletico are a big club with big players, so when things start on the wrong foot, they often end that way too.
“I still have two years on my contract, we’ll see what happens when I am ready to play again. I want to play, I have a lot of enthusiasm and desire to give my qualities to a team that believes in me. Whether that’s Atletico Madrid, Bologna or someone else, we’ll have to wait and see.”