There is no doubt that Bologna have spent a considerable amount of money this summer, as the owner Joey Saputo wants to finally move the club away from the relegation zone, and into the top half of the table.
Even though the club finished 10th last season, Saputo was not happy with how the season went as a whole. The appointment of Sinisa Mihajlovic improved the results considerably, but the results of the first half of the season meant Bologna always had to fear going down to Serie B.
Nevertheless, 10th meant upper half, and improvement on that is the goal for the season, something which have led Saputo into investing a lot of money into the squad.
Firstly, three out of last seasonโs loan players have been outright bought. Riccardo Orsolini, Nicola Sansone and Roberto Soriano our now Bologna players, something which has set Saputo back roughly โฌ30 million:
Riccardo Orsolini โ โฌ15 million
Roberto Soriano โ โฌ7.5 million
Nicola Sansone โ โฌ7.5 million
A lot of money for a club of Bolognaโs stature, but nevertheless a necessity as the three players contributed heavily in the clubโs successful quest for salvation last season.
In addition to the aforementioned players, Bologna have also acquired six other players:
Mattia Bani โ โฌ2.5 million
Stefano Denswil โ โฌ6 million
Takehiro Tomiyasu โ โฌ9 million
Andreas Skov Olsen โ โฌ6 million
Jerdy Schouten โ โฌ3 million
Lassi Lappalainen โ โฌ1 million
That turns out to โฌ27.5 million, in addition to the โฌ30 million spent on the loan players. That adds up to a total of โฌ57.5 million spent thus far.
As for sales, these players have fetched Bologna money up until now:
Alex Ferrari โ โฌ4.5 million
Filip Helander โ โฌ3.9 million
Felipe Avenatti โ โฌ4.5 million
Emil Krafth โ โฌ2 million
Sebastien De Maio โ โฌ2 million
That brings in โฌ14.9 million, which means a net spend of โฌ42.6 million.
Whichever way one assesses this number, it is a considerable amount of money for club like Bologna. However, given Saputoโs stated ambitions when he first took over the club, as well as what heโs said several times since then, investment of this size is absolutely necessary. Time is ripe for Bologna to take the next step, finally not be anywhere near the relegation zone, and fight their way into the top half.
All transfer fees courtesy of Transfermarkt.com.
This post originally appeared on Sempre Bologna.
