Bologna director Giovanni Sartori admits being an admirer of M’Bala Nzola and Jakub Kiwior and reveals Didier Drogba was close to joining Atalanta when he was in Bergamo.
Sartori is one of Italy’s most experienced and perhaps underrated football directors. He worked, among other clubs, for Chievo Verona, ‘The Chievo Dei Miracoli’, which earned European qualification at the beginning of the 2000s and Atalanta, helping La Dea play Champions League football for three consecutive years.
He left the Gewiss Stadium at the end of last season, joining Bologna and the Rossoblu are now also battling for a European placement.
Bologna hired Thiago Motta to replace Sinisa Mihajlovic in September. The Serie A legend died of leukaemia less than three months later, in December 2022.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t meet Mihajlovic many times,” Sartori told Il Corriere dello Sport.
“He signed with Bologna in May, I met in June, but then he had to undergo new surgery and remained 40 days in the hospital. We sometimes spoke on the phone, and we were confident he would return after the surgery, but the club made a choice in September.
“Thiago is a coach that made me curious,” continued the 65-year-old.
“I followed him at Spezia because they had three Atalanta players and because of Nzola and Kiwior who I found very interesting. I liked Motta’s style, so I sent one of my collaborators to monitor him for a week.”
Sartori signed over 800 players during his career but he has a clear idea about who is his biggest regret in the market.
“Drogba was so close to joining Atalanta. The deal fell apart because of a little detail, but don’t ask me how much we’d pay for him, I don’t remember.”
Drogba joined Chelsea from Olympique Marseille in 2004 and went on to score 164 goals in 381 games with the Blues.