Serie A side Como picked up a huge 4-1 win over Manchester United on Thursday and the result will live long in the memory of Italian football fans. Martin Baturina starred in the tie and their president has now opened up about how the Croatian was signed by the lakeside club.
The attacker has become one of Comoโs most important players this season, having joined in the summer of 2025 from Dinamo Zagreb.ย
He has already been linked with a host of clubs across Europe and club president Mirwan Suwarso has now revealed what led to the deal.
Suwarso spoke to LNS journalist Hanif Thamrin and he was aksed about the background on the Baturina deal, as he revealed Fabrizio Romanoโs role.
Suwarso said- via Calciomercato: โBaturina signed thanks to Football Manager? No, it didnโt exactly happen that way.
โActually, Fabrizio Romano recommended Baturina to me. One day he said, โAre you interested in meeting this player?โ I replied, โWho is he? I donโt know him.โ He explained that there was an agent interested in meeting me. I donโt normally meet agents, but I asked who it was. When I heard the name Baturina, it sounded familiar.โ
This led to Suwarso asking his data team to assess Baturina further.
โSo I asked our data department to study him. They replied, โWe donโt even need to look at the numbers; we already know who he is.โ But I insisted, โCheck it out anyway.โ He was playing for Dinamo Zagreb, and I wanted to see if heโd be able to adapt quickly to Serie A.โ
Suwarso also disclosed that current Inter star Petar Sucic was Comoโs initial target but a deal for him never worked out.
โActually, the player we initially wanted to buy was Petar Sucic. Yes, the Inter player. We had already reached an agreement with Dinamo Zagreb for him. I donโt remember all the details of that period, but we had an agreement with the club. The problem was that the commissions requested by the agents were almost equal to the price of the playerโs transfer, and at that point we said it didnโt make sense to continue.โ
โSucic went to Inter and we had the opportunity to sign Baturina. We were actually looking for a player with more of Sucicโs characteristics, a number 8. But Baturina represented an interesting opportunity. We studied the data, it was all positive, and we decided to proceed.โ
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Decision paying off
Baturinaโs versatility and ability to roam freely in attack seems to really suit Cesc Fabregasโ side. It also brings the most out of him, which is why many top clubs are also after his signature.
So even if Como didnโt initially want Baturina, it is all going in the right direction.
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Kaustubh Pandey โ GIFN
