FM24 - I Rossoblù (Bologna FC 1909)

[Jogo Bonito]

On 16/08/2024 at 00:22, warlock said:

Nicely done! Just one win away from the title, and a close-run thing in the cup. Champions League again will keep the money flowing in... although it looks like you don't need much of it 

Liberali looks like an absolute steal if he comes good on that potential.

Thanks mate. Liberali is a great little player. Spoiler alert, he scored four goals in both of his first two U-20 games for us which saw him sat with an average rating of 10 after the two games. I don't expect him to keep that rate up of course, but 8 in 2 is an incredible start.

On 16/08/2024 at 10:04, Dong21 said:

A fine season indeed, and definitely year-on-year improvement! 
Excited to see what happens next to the squad, with your increasing pipeline of young Italian talent knocking on the door.

Thanks mate. Yes steady improvement so far, which is very nice. We really are trying to do the best we can with young Italian talents whilst also trying to remain competitive. The 4th season should be exciting, lots to reveal there soon!

On 16/08/2024 at 11:05, Carambau said:

Another successful season  Congrats on CL qualification - this will secure some more money into your war chest... nice to see your domestic transfer approach is working well!

Another thank you. We're happy with the progress so far and 'domestication' has definitely been stepped up a level in the summer.

Before we go in to that, the next update will be a review of the Bologna Academy season.

[El Payaso]

Solid progress and still love the approach where you take small steps forward, mostly invest in the academy and have a realistic gameplay. 

If you would manage to get Buongiorno, this could well be the needed upgrade that could lead to a Scudetto. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Bologna U-20 Season 2025/26 Review 

Our second-team had another excellent campaign at U-20 level, again winning the league in the regular 38-game season

AC Milan pushed us hard and probably headed the table more than we did, but our ability to score goals (106) let us pip them in entertaining style

The Milan side did ultimately get crowned 'Campionato Primavera 1 champions' though after beating us 5-4 in the Play-Off Final 

Here are our overall performance results which show a mixed bag - we struggled when we had too many key players over-age for certain fixtures

Vincenzo Di Gianni (20) is a striker we signed for 775,000 Euros from Lazio last summer who excelled with 28 goals from 40 appearances in his debut season 

Senegalese central defender Fallou Diouf (20) was also a class act after his 170,000 Euros move in July 2025 from Generation Foot in his homeland 

Outstanding in defence, he also scored 15 goals from 46 (1) appearances in all competitions and has a current market value of 8-9 million Euros 

Below are the player stats for all of our U-20 squad, and we can cherish some very impressive numbers from most of the regular players here

Since this image was taken, Kazper Karlsson has also become home-grown, so only Diouf doesn't meet that criteria

As always we need to do some work to either promote or loan/transfer out some who will become ineligible due to age restrictions

We will also be welcoming back our loaned-out 21 year-old Argentinian striker Santiago Castro

He has just received home grown status at the end of June, after scoring a league-best 27 in 31 for Sampdoria in Serie C/B last term

Edited August 17 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

7 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Solid progress and still love the approach where you take small steps forward, mostly invest in the academy and have a realistic gameplay. 

If you would manage to get Buongiorno, this could well be the needed upgrade that could lead to a Scudetto. 

Thanks mate, I really appreciate the positive words as I think we are both trying to build our mid-table clubs in slow, realistic and sensible ways.

Buongiorno has been a target for three seasons now. The only time we got both fee & wages agreed at the same time, we couldn't get the money together to complete the transfer. Since then, Torino have gone back up on their valuation, and even though we might now be able to do it, the player demands went up from 80,000 Euros per week to somewhere between 125,000 and 150,000 Euros per week. I'd gladly pay a fee of 50-60 million Euros but only if the wages can stay at around 80,000 or 90,000 Euros per week. the player has been 'very keen' to join us for around 18 months now, but his greed on the ever-increasing wage demands doesn't really signal that his desire is real.

[Jimbokav1971]

I see the Italian love-in on this forum continues here. 

You seem to have made a success on basing your updates largely on transfer dealings and some lovely unique graphics. This one's my favourite. 

You seem to have inherited some decent, (but not amazing youngsters). I think the future is pretty bright for Bologna. 
 

Edited August 18 by Jimbokav1971

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks for taking the time to read my progress. I live in Malta and most of my colleagues here are supporting Italian clubs so it's easy to get reconnected with the love-in to Italian football which made good memories back in the C4 days. It also helps that Serie A is all I really hear about here (other than FPL). A few of them play for 2nd/3rd tier Maltese clubs, but I don't know anybody here who who supports or would even watch a Maltese club on TV.

I do focus on (and enjoy) sensible squad-building so yes probably a bit heavy on transfer dealings and graphics. I can talk about the tactical stuff, but I only really tweak things occasionally and after finding a formula that generally works, there hasn't been much change over the last few seasons.

I try to get realistic transfer targets and look to replace players with like-for-like types as much as possible, with a strong focus on Italians and developing the young talent. I'm at the start of 2026/27 but already much of my work is being done with 2027/28 in mind.

Until now the youngsters were always being recruited to play for my U-20 side, and loans had always been rejected. This summer has seen a deliberate change as I now need to see some of them play senior football to show me their level and demonstrate if they have a chance of 'making it' in our first-team. This means quite a few of the youngsters that are now too old for the U-20 matches have been sent on loan.

In the summer of 2027 we will have a good number of our senior first-team regulars out of contract and most if not all will be replaced by the best of our youngsters. This plan has been carefully executed over three seasons, and when it all (hopefully) comes to fruition 2027/28 promises to be my most exciting year yet. 

Until then, it is time to focus on the 2026/27 campaign, with the summer transfer deadline just about to close. I have one or two decisions to make, but the squad looks in good shape for now.

[Jogo Bonito]

June 2026

June 2026, Bologna, Italy - we are back!

When a big club like Internazionale come calling for you, it is hard to resist the temptation

But that is exactly what happened on 25th June and their job interview was swiftly declined

July 2026

Four youngsters (discussed before) arrived in Bologna via pre-agreed deals on 1st July

Striker Mateo Retegui completed his 8.5 million move to Al-Nassr (KSA) and Uruguayan defender Joaquin Sosa (24) moved to Brescia for 1 million Euros

Swedish attacker Jesper Karlsson (28) was allowed to join Palermo on loan with a future fee as we stepped up our domestically-biased transfer plans

The Sicilians will pay his full 31,000 Euros per week wages, plus 18.5 million Euros after 20 games and a further 19 million in instalments over 12 months

Lewis Ferguson (27) was next out as the Scottish midfielder jetted off to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad for a club-record fee of 66 million Euros 

This sum may rise to 77 million if clauses to pay 7.25 million after 20 games and 3.6 million after 20 more international caps are triggered

Lorenzo Lucca (25) joined him at the same club one week later for a fee of 17.25 million Euros plus 1.9 million Euros after 20 games (and 20% future profit)

We had planned to keep the striker in our squad, but he pushed for the move and when we saw his new contract of 300,000 Euros per week we could see why

Central defender Riccardo Stivanello was also sent out on loan to our new affiliate club Benevento as we knew he would not get senior games for us this year

This new link with the Serie C side was requested so we could sent some of our ineligible U-20 players out on loan for regular starts

August 2026

Having cleared out 93 million Euros of talent in July (even without the Karlsson monies) we began sorting our acquisitions in August

Four first-team squad members came in during the month for a combined sum of 28.9 million Euros

This quartet are all Italians in their prime years (one of them is a senior player already at 23 but is a succession-planning purchase for next year)

Full-back Tommaso Corazza (22) was sent out on loan to Pescara (they will pay 100% wages) as he also needs to start senior games regularly now

A number of unmentioned U-20 players had also headed out on loan during July and August with certain conditions being met

All loaning clubs had to be willing to give them regular or important player status and agree to pay us 100% wages on each and every deal

The new season also began in August (more of that next time) and at that point, here were the targets and budgets we had been set

Our pre-season concluded this month too, with fixtures in Italy and a small tour of USA delivering satisfactory results

 

September 2026

Deadline day came around on 1st September and we recruited two more quality Italian players for the first-team group

One of them sees our first loan signing since the summer of 2023, but we have a future fee option of 10.75 million Euros included which we are likely to activate

With our business concluded, we also encouraged two more first-team centre-backs to head out on loan for regular first-team experience (with no buy options)

Alan Matturro (21) and Mohamed Seck (20) had both done fine when playing for us but would be having limited opportunities here in the coming season

The former will be starting games for Serie A side Salernitana with them paying the Uruguayan's full 31,000 Euros per week wages for the season

The latter has joined Serie C side Cosenza, who will be paying the full 4,000 Euros per week wage of the young Italian

Our next update will go through the incoming transfers, with (hopefully) a nice way to demonstrate the excitement of the summer transfer window

We will also do a squad review and introduce you to the Bologna players for the new 2026/27 season

Edited August 18 by Jogo Bonito

[Hootieleece]

Great to see your work again. Old Friend. I have much to ponder about running a club. All those advantageous loans.......how?

I have headed to Japan for my new adventures: more of the same in career updates but this time I am going to try and stay at the club I am at now that I am a big one. The Urawa Red Diamonds in the J1 League.

It will take me until FM25 comes out and I return to my first FM Club. Fleetwood Town as where I will start FM25.

Also, school starts next week so my updates will slow down........

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks for the kind words and for dropping the comment.

With limited time it's hard to follow too many stories so sorry for not being active in your career in Japan. I'll try (but cannot promise) to take a look though and hope it goes well for you!

Good luck back at school and in your planning for Fleetwood in FM25 

[Jogo Bonito]

We already talked about the players leaving Bologna in the summer of 2026, whether permanently or on loan

Now it's time to reveal the all-important new recruits joining the project this summer, announced in order of arrival

After that we will then reflect on the squad we have at our disposal for 2026/27

8th August 2026

Giovanni Sartori (Technical Director) poses for the cameras alongside Nicolo Cambiaghi (25) our first senior recruit of the summer

The forward gave a very brief statement to outline his first thoughts and seasonal aspirations

Director of Football Marco Di Vaio then posed in traditional shirt-holding fashion with the new arrival, who takes shirt number 28 for us

The attacking midfielder/winger can also play effectively as a shadow striker, his salary is 52,000 Euros per week until 2030 (four years)  

10th August 2026

26 year-old Italian midfielder Marco Brescianini was the second transfer concluded, just two days later

The ex-Frosinone man joins on a contract of 59,000 Euros per week until June 2031 (five years)

With the ink on that contract barely dry, there was speculation on Lazio social media that another Bologna deal was about to complete on the same day

And just 28 minutes after Brescianini, the third summer signing was being announced by the club in the form of Lazio centre-back Nicolo Casale (28)

The experienced defender joins for a cut-price fee and should provide valuable back-up as we tackle multiple competitions again this season

His salary is 39,000 Euros per week until June 2030 (four years), although he is unlikely to see out the whole contract length with us after he turns 30+

18th August 2026

After eight days being inactive, The Laziali were back talking about another of their available squad members  

And Bologna beat off interest from a number of other Italian sides to land winger Matteo Cancellieri (24) on another cut-price deal with the Biancocelesti 

The left-footed right-winger is the 4th new arrival and is a succession-planning buy with next season in mind

His salary is 38,500 Euros per week and he has penned a deal until June 2030 (four years)

1st September 2026 - Deadline Day Drama

Davide Abrescia (Sky Italia) was in the studio that morning to spark the transfer gossip of the day

La Gazzetta dello Sport would naturally also play a big part in the days discussions

Both were aware of our long-running interest in a certain Torino & Italy central defender who we had been tracking for three full seasons already

They hyped up the possibility of a major deal being agreed by the two clubs, but the contract demands of the player and his representatives were still way too high

However, with the sum of 67 million Euros being saved up over a period of years, the Bologna board were addressed by their respected manager

As a result, purchase terms were agreed with Torino and it was then decided to match the player's sky-high wage demands

And at 12.34, the exciting news filtered through that a deal for Alessandro Buongiorno (27) had been struck after three-years of haggling 

The record-smashing fee of 66 million Euros (plus 50% of any future profit) was expensive enough, but the really eye-watering aspect was the value of his contract

We threw all of our resources in to his package so the defender will now earn a staggering 125,000 Euros per week until June 2031 (five years)

Whilst we really have pushed ourselves to the limit here, the opportunity to field Buongiorno and Riccardo Calafiori in our three-man defence is very exciting 

A few hours before the deadline we then grabbed a late opportunity to make our 6th and final senior signing of the window

The arrival of ex-Monza attacking midfielder Andrea Colpani (27) on loan from AC Milan comes with a future fee option of 10.75 million Euros attached

It was our first loan signing for three years, but with a sensible 40% wage contribution of 46,500 Euros per week, he will fit within our budget this term

In hindsight, we would not have recruited Cancellieri had we known this move was possible, but we can resolve which of them stays later in the season 

Season 2026/27 Summer Transfer Window Summary (Incoming)

Below is a recap on the six new Italians joining the club, following on from the youngsters already snapped up 

The sum of 98 million Euros spent this season is massive for us, and eclipsed our previous high of 33.5 million Euros by a significant margin

Despite the big outlay on Buongiorno, we are still only 10th in the Serie A club wages table

This concludes our transfer review, and the next update will be a squad review as this summer has seen an unusually high turnover of players

I hope this update has been a good read, and welcome any thoughts or comments about how the busy window posts have been presented

Edited August 19 by Jogo Bonito

[El Payaso]

Finally got the deal done with Buongiorno. I hope that he won't be as bad for you as he was in my Torino save. Well, I could count on it. 

Interesting transfers and very well written! 

[warlock]

Very nicely presented. 

It's a lot of money, but I think there comes a point in every save where you have to go for it (a big final season push got Benfica over the line and a Champions League win in my save with them last year). Hope it pays off for you in similar fashion. Not that I expect a Champions League win from you... yet! 

[_Ben_]

20 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

This signals that you're now one of the big boys! A move with intent! Hope he comes good for you.

[Jogo Bonito]

23 hours ago, El Payaso said:

Finally got the deal done with Buongiorno. I hope that he won't be as bad for you as he was in my Torino save. Well, I could count on it. 

Interesting transfers and very well written! 

Thanks, appreciated. Yes I'm a bit disappointed that we had to pay him way more than was agreed a year or so back (when we couldn't find the money to complete the transfer) but I have high hopes for him.

He'll be the central one of the back-three, but he'll move to the left side if Calafiori is ever missing. He's also been installed as new club captain, and that was something else that really attracted me to sign him. We wanted an Italian leader of the side after three years with Dutch defender Sam Beukema wearing the armband.

21 hours ago, warlock said:

Very nicely presented. 

It's a lot of money, but I think there comes a point in every save where you have to go for it (a big final season push got Benfica over the line and a Champions League win in my save with them last year). Hope it pays off for you in similar fashion. Not that I expect a Champions League win from you... yet! 

Yes, for me that's possibly the most I have ever spent on a player in FM. It should be remembered that we did sell 93 million Euros of talent in this window though (plus another 37 million Euros imminent for Karlsson), so we still made a transfer profit!

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

This signals that you're now one of the big boys! A move with intent! Hope he comes good for you.

I'm not sure we will be considered a big boy just yet, but agree definitely a sign of intent! I look forward to greeting him with a cheerful 'good morning' every day too, that always amuses me with his name!

[Dong21]

Just catching up and enjoyed the writing style for your transfer update 👏🏼

[Jogo Bonito]

On 22/08/2024 at 11:28, Dong21 said:

Just catching up and enjoyed the writing style for your transfer update 👏🏼

Thanks, I appreciate that!

Having done the transfer review, it's time to present the Bologna squad for 2026/27

We currently have 27 members of the senior group, including the one on loan with an option to buy

We can trim our match squads by cutting any injured players, leaving out one of the young strikers plus Marco Palestra and/or Matteo Cancellieri as appropriate 

Alessandro Buongiorno has taken the armband from Sam Beukema after three years, and the Dutchman wants to explore a move to Saudi Arabia

As one of only three non-Italian trained players left, we have assured him he can move if they bid 70 million Euros (their transfer window is open longer than ours)

We currently have seven of these players out of contract on 30th June 2027 and it will be unlikely that we renew more than three of them

The squad depth chart below highlights 26 as Antonio Raimondo isn't shown (we will probably only list three strikers in any match day squad)

Below is a player-by-player analysis which includes their appearance and goal data for Bologna (league only)

Goalkeepers

• Michele Di Gregorio (97 appearances) has been outstanding as our starting goalkeeper since we signed him from Monza for 5.75 million Euros on 20th July 2023.  He has lots of interest from Saudi Pro League clubs, and we may struggle to meet his wage demands for a new contract before it expires in June 2027.
• Federico Ravaglia (24 appearances) is a reliable back-up option who came through the youth ranks, he usually gets domestic cup action and does fine when selected. He has club-trained status and would probably be promoted to first-choice if our current pick does leave.

Central Defenders

• Alessandro Buongiorno (0 appearances) is a classy Italian international who joined from Torino on 1st September 2026 for a club record fee of 66 million Euros. The left-footer was installed as our new captain immediately. He will usually play in the middle of our back-three, but will shift to the left if required.
• Sam Beukema (107 appearances and 6 goals) was signed from Eredivisie outfit AZ before my arrival. He has been a steady performer and captain during my three years at the club, but is keen to explore a move to Saudi Arabia and will be allowed to leave if a club bids 70 million Euros for him. He'll probably still play most games on the right of our back-three, but is no longer a captaincy contender.
• Nicolo Casale (0 appearances) arrived from Lazio on 10th August 2026 for a bargain fee of 2.4 million Euros. An experienced defender, he will be a contender for the right-side role at the back or for the central role.
• Giovanni Leoni (50 appearances) was signed for a cut-price sum of 190,000 Euros from Padova on 1st July 2024. The talented youngster has been starting since his first season and has developed very well despite still being a teenager. He will compete for the central and right roles of our trio at the back, and never lets us down whoever he plays against. 
• Riccardo Calafiori (95 appearances and 8 goals) was at the club when I started after moving back to Italy from FC Basel in Switzerland. A left-footer who defends well and likes to charge forward, he is an automatic pick as a libero on the left of our defence whenever he is available and fit.

Wing-Backs

• Dan Ndoye (98 appearances and 2 goals) was also recruited from FC Basel prior to my appointment and is the second of our remaining non-Italian products. We converted the Swiss winger in to a right wing-back from the very first season and he has been a good asset with his attacking abilities and assists even though he hasn't scored as many as we might have expected. 
• Michael Folorunsho (55 appearances and 1 goal) was a central midfield player who completed a free transfer switch to the club on 1st July 2024. After being a bit-part player as a defensive midfielder, we trained him to become a very useful right wing-back and that is where now features. We may allow him to leave at the end of his contract in 2027 unless Ndoye moves on.
• Marco Palestra (26 appearances) was recruited from Atalanta on 11th August 2023 for 1 million Euros as a teenager. He hasn't had too many opportunities to start after progressing from our U-20 side, and mainly plays from the bench. He is still a decent prospect and is now club-trained.
• Antonino Gallo (103 appearances and 7 goals) was a superb signing and has been our first-choice left wing-back since moving from Lecce on 20th July 2023 for 2.9 million Euros. He is a multiple Player of the Year award-winner at Bologna, very good in defensive and attacking duties.
• Emanuele Valeri (24 appearances and 2 goals) is the understudy left wing-back, signed from Lazio on 1st July 2025 for 3 million Euros. Through no fault of his, he doesn't get to start as often as he should, but he is a valuable squad member who is trusted 100%.

Defensive & Central Midfielders

• Nicolo Fagioli (33 appearances and 2 goals) was a major coup when we grabbed him from Juventus for 12.75 million Euros on 1st July 2025. After two seasons using an anchorman at the base of midfield, his arrival saw a change of tactic to try and retain more ball possession. Since then he has performed superbly as a deep-lying play-maker and is always picked when fit and available.
• Rolando Mandragora (27 appearances) is an experienced and capable deputy in defensive midfield, reliable if unspectacular. He arrived on 1st July 2025 as a free agent after a spell in Saudi Arabia came to an end.
• Giovanni Fabbian (107 appearances and 15 goals) is a box-to-box midfielder previously on the books of Internazionale. He had been picked up before my arrival, and stepped-up from being Lewis Ferguson's understudy to a regular first-team starter at the beginning of this season.
• Marco Brescianini (0 appearances) joined on 10th August 2026 after we paid 17 million Euros to Frosinone for his services. He'll be a contender for the defensive midfield and box-to-box roles in our side.
• Kacper Urbanski (11 appearances) is a Polish midfielder who has been with Bologna long enough to obtain home-grown club status. He's been promoted to the senior squad now, and will look to take advantage of any opportunities he gets in the team.

Attacking Midfielders

• Gaetano Castrovilli (68 appearances and 13 goals) is an experienced player who we signed on 1st July 2024 via a free transfer. Able to play as a natural central midfielder, we decided to use him more often in the shadow-striker role just left of centre. He has delivered excellent performances and goals from that role, but sometimes features in an attacking midfielder role just right of centre, if we go narrow during the later stages of a game. Despite his contributions, he may not be offered a new contract in the summer.
• Nicolo Cambiaghi (0 appearances) is a more natural shadow striker used to playing from the left. Picked up from Torino on 8th August 2026 for 7.5 million Euros, we expect him to be a good asset. As a younger player, he'll probably be taking over the role from Castrovilli now or next season (and he is a player the club actually signed this summer in reality). 
• Daniel Maldini (13 appearances) has had very few chances to play since completing a free transfer move to the club on 1st July 2024. He has a contract expiring in the summer and will need to put in similar good performances to those he delivered in pre-season if he wants to be offered a new deal. He's one of the three shadow-striker options we consider.
• Riccardo Orsolini (286 appearances and 69 goals) has been at the club since 2017 and will complete his 10th year in the summer. An absolute gem of a player, he has been an automatic pick as a left-footed inverted winger on our right-flank. With interest from Saudi clubs, we may not be able to offer him the salary he wants to stay next year at 30. Whatever happens, he has been an outstanding servant of the club for a long time, and hopefully gets a testimonial that he richly deserves.
• Andrea Colpani (0 appearances) is another left-footed attacking midfielder who would play wide right or inverted from the right. Our first loan signing since 2023, we picked him up from AC Milan on 1st September 2026, with an option to buy for 10.75 million Euros. This is quite likely to be triggered if he impresses, as he would hopefully accept lower wages than Orsolini.
• Matteo Cancellieri (0 appearances) is another left-footed winger who operates from the right wing, and we took the chance to recruit him for a bargain fee of 2 million Euros from Lazio on 18th August 2026. His arrival was what we consider succession-planning as he should have a role if Orsolini departs, but we know we should get much more than the fee invested if we decide not to retain him next year.

Strikers

• Jean-Philippe Mateta (50 appearances and 33 goals) has been our first-choice striker by some distance since being recruited on 31st January 2025 from Crystal Palace for 14.25 million Euros. As a lone-striker in our formation, he carries the main burden of goals, but his strike-rate in Serie A has been exceptional with a ratio of 2 in 3 plus plenty more goals in Europe. Despite this, at 29 and with interest from Saudi Arabia, we have to decide whether we can find a better Italian option to trigger a sale before his contract expires in 2028. If not, he'll probably be asked to see out his term as our last foreign-trained asset until he leaves in 2028.
• Santiago Castro (16 appearances) was already at the club when I arrived but has had two loan spells away in my three years here. He returned this summer after scoring 27 league goals from 31 games in Serie C for Sampdoria last term. The Argentine is now trained-in-nation, but needs to add to his two Cup goals for Bologna in 2024/25 to progress from (or even keep) his deputy role behind Mateta.
• Marco Nasti (0 appearances) arrived as a free transfer signing on 1st July 2026 after his AC Milan stay ended. Unproven, we hope he will get some minutes this season and take any chances that do come his way.
• Antonio Raimondo (21 appearances and 5 goals) is a youngster who was already at the club when I arrived. He holds home-grown status with us and scored a few goals for the senior side last season after stepping up from our U-20 side where he was a regular scorer. He'll be competing with Castro and Nasti to become the first reserve to Mateta and we hope to extend his contract which is due to end in June 2027.

Edited August 23 by Jogo Bonito

[Cheez3y]

Just managed to catch up.

Really nice progress and continuous improvement.

 

Question:

Are you playing the youth team too?

Edited August 24 by Cheez3y

[Jogo Bonito]

3 hours ago, Cheez3y said:

Just managed to catch up.

Really nice progress and continuous improvement.

 

Question:

Are you playing the youth team too?

Thanks for the comment! We have raised our own expectations slightly for this season as we don't really have any squad-filling youngsters for this term. Instead we have a strong (possibly one or two more than we might need) contingent of 'ready-to-go' players. It will be interesting to see if this makes any difference or not.

Next season with a few of the seniors released and maybe sales of our last few non-Italians, plus welcoming back some of the youngsters we loaned out this term and a few 'promotions' from the U-20 squad, we'll be deliberately hitting the re-set button again. But this is all planned, and I will be very doubtful that any new players arrive for the senior side next summer. An 11 months in advance brave prediction, I know!

I'm not physically managing the U-20 side, but I do make player selection adjustments for them when the news item pops up pre-game. So in a way, I am team-managing them remotely - but only before kick-off!

Edited August 24 by Jogo Bonito

[_Ben_]

17 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Having done the transfer review, it's time to present the Bologna squad for 2026/27

We currently have 27 members of the senior group, including the one on loan with an option to buy

I think you've built a great squad! I've never really followed your threads before but I must say that your squad building ability is fantastic.

How do you handle 27 first team players plus such a quality youth setup? I tend to run a squad of 20/22 and sometimes have trouble giving them the minutes they want!

[Carambau]

Wonderful squad review  

Buongiorno surely earns a lot compared to the others but he also is one classy player of course!

Good luck for the new season!

[Jogo Bonito]

21 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

I think you've built a great squad! I've never really followed your threads before but I must say that your squad building ability is fantastic.

How do you handle 27 first team players plus such a quality youth setup? I tend to run a squad of 20/22 and sometimes have trouble giving them the minutes they want!

Thanks very much, appreciate you taking the time to read and comment (generously) on this. Squad-building is something I really like, so it's nice to have such feedback! I usually like to have about 23 players, but in Serie A we can have 26 named for match squads so only one misses out. I have about 18 who are part of the current 'core group' and the others just get used as and when needed, mainly as bench and injury/rotation options.

This year sees a few more in the main squad than we would have liked, but a couple will go by the next window and most of the expiring contracts won't be renewed. Next season (2027/28) promises to be the most exciting one so far, as we will be moving the best young players in to the senior squad to replace the departing experienced pros. This year is a free-shot (with no pressure) by using the established profiles to launch a serious challenge for the Scudetto before they go, and perhaps we can make more Champions League progress too.

13 hours ago, Carambau said:

Wonderful squad review  

Buongiorno surely earns a lot compared to the others but he also is one classy player of course!

Good luck for the new season!

Thanks for the praise. I'm very frugal with wages so this was a massive show of faith from me in Buongiorno. I do feel uncomfortable with it, but saw him as a key signing that can make a difference. Time will tell!

[danyates8]

Sounds like we run a similar method in terms of squad building and wage structure. Having a nice mix of experience and youth whilst staying within a wage structure that is fairly strict. I still get caught out by contract clauses every now and then though!

[Jogo Bonito]

On 25/08/2024 at 13:45, danyates8 said:

Sounds like we run a similar method in terms of squad building and wage structure. Having a nice mix of experience and youth whilst staying within a wage structure that is fairly strict. I still get caught out by contract clauses every now and then though!

You won't hear me arguing against your strategies then! I'm always trying to think ahead on expiring contracts, renewing those I want and can afford before they get in to the last year. But if we can't get close to the new (over) inflated demands, I don't worry much about letting 30 year-old players leave for free. Afterall, that's what the youth pipeline was built for.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2026/27 - Part 1 (August-October 2026)

Bologna's board and fans have cautious optimism that our 4th term together will serve up another good season 

As mentioned in the squad review, our group of players is stacked with numbers and (we hope) enough quality to make an impression

This will be the last year of this particular cycle, as 2027/28 will see a refresh as some familiar faces will be moving on

Our approach stays consistent with a back-three and wing-backs, a defensive and central midfielder, and a lone striker supported by two attacking midfielders 

August got off to a good start with two wins and one draw as we launched our campaign with confidence

Attacking midfielder Daniel Maldini made an unexpected impact at shadow striker after taking advantage of injuries to score a couple of early goals

September was also a good month in the league with three wins from three including an excellent win over AC Milan who won eight of their first nine

Unfortunately we also had two Champions League games and couldn't win either - the defeat against Juventus was a big blow as they scored after 94 minutes

October was less impressive as - perhaps slowed by European action - we laboured to two home draws and a defeat in Serie A before a good win last time out

We also couldn't rack up our first Champions League win of the season as Manchester United came and played out a goalless draw in Italy

Jean-Philippe Mateta had a good start to the season but the goals dried up for him last month where he failed to net at all

In fact, midfielder Marco Brescianini was the unlikely hero recently after scoring a pair of important goals from the bench in his last two cameos

Hopefully that last victory might inspire the team to push on before Napoli and the two Milan teams put any more distance between us

We now rank 4th in the table after dipping a little last month, and 5th in goals scored and conceded standings

Financially we don't look as strong as usual, but we are about to reign in some serious transfer funds in the next few months

The mandatory future fee for Jesper Karlsson (on loan at Palermo) should net us 35 million Euros after 20 appearances there

Meanwhile, defender Sam Beukema could earn us close to 70 million Euros if he moves to Saudi Arabia as he is keen to do

Whether these monies come in or not, we have no plans to buy any new players this season - but it will be nice to boost the bank balance again

Edited August 26 by Jogo Bonito

[Cheez3y]

Rough October after a nice victory vs Milan.

 

[Hootieleece]

Good work so far. What is wrong with Juventus?

[john1]

Finally caught up with all this What an achievement you have done so far, squad looking epic!

[Jogo Bonito]

On 26/08/2024 at 20:55, Cheez3y said:

Rough October after a nice victory vs Milan.

 

Thank you and sorry for the very slow response, I have not been online for a week or two. I struggle to beat any of the big clubs except Juventus, so any win over Milan is satisfying!

On 26/08/2024 at 21:16, Hootieleece said:

Good work so far. What is wrong with Juventus?

Again sorry for the slow reply. I don't know! They haven't been good in any of the years so far, which isn't what I expected at all. it's always the same four teams showing power - the two from Milan, plus Roma and Napoli.

On 26/08/2024 at 23:44, john1 said:

Finally caught up with all this What an achievement you have done so far, squad looking epic!

Thanks so much for reading and commenting. Encouragement like that is always appreciated!

[warlock]

Somehow missed your last update . Rough form in October but no real cause for concern yet, and you're well-placed for another Champions League qualification. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2026/27 - Part 2 (November-December 2026)

November saw a slow start on both the domestic and continental fronts, but we did manage to grind out two narrow but valuable wins to close the month off

Jean-Philippe Mateta has been playing like the old cartoon character Billy's Boots before he found his magical footwear (youngsters can google it)

So others needed to deliver goals - and luckily the rarely-used Daniel Maldini achieved this on a few occasions in November

The final month of the year got off to a great start with an important win in Europe which was memorable for Mateta actually hitting the target again

League-leaders Internazionale were next and are always a tough opponent, but we battled well there and were unlucky to be handed a 2-1 away defeat

We then hoped to bounce back by beating Juventus at home, but the Turin outfit smothered us well and the 0-0 result was another frustrating day

Central midfielder Marco Brescianini eased some pressure by continuing his good personal form with a brace as we brushed aside Palermo next time out though

The calendar year ended with us hosting AS Roma (4th) and although we always want to win at home,a point against them was a good one for us 

Below shows where we sat at the turn of the New Year, 5th was solid but we are already 15 points behind the leaders

A lack of a regular goalscorer this season is very disappointing, but defensively we are doing OK (4th best at this stage) 

One other interesting thing occurred on 15th November 2026, something I have rarely seen in FM

Hellas Verona are currently in Serie A and were mid-table at the time the below message was delivered

Also, they haven't had any points deducted and seem to have survived without any other drama so maybe they got a new board and/or investment

Another update is not far away as January has been played already, and we can round-up the transfer window too

[Jogo Bonito]

28 minutes ago, warlock said:

Somehow missed your last update . Rough form in October but no real cause for concern yet, and you're well-placed for another Champions League qualification. 

No worries mate. Yes I think we have to aim for CL again but we aren't really as strong this year as we had hoped to be.

I need to have a look at your new journey once my updates are finished too (one is above and one is coming soon).

[warlock]

27 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

we aren't really as strong this year as we had hoped to be

Always difficult when, as you say, you don't have a reliable source of goals. Maldini seems to be doing alright but it would be nice if some of your other AMs/strikers could pick up a bit of slack.

I'm sure you'll figure it out 

[Deisler26]

Huge fan of the way you've worked Bologna up and loving the U-20 updates! Keep going!

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2026/27 - Part 3 (January 2027)

This is a short post just to review results on the pitch in January 2027 and to round-up the winter transfer window activities

On the pitch, we had a really good month this time around and neither of the two defeats were delivered in Serie A

The first challenge of the New Year was a trip to high-flying Napoli and a hard-fought 2-1 win down South was probably our best result of the season to date

Competitions like the Supercoppa carry no importance at all to me and quite honestly losing to the same side a few days later in that was totally irrelevant

Even the Coppa Italia is a sideshow that we rotate for, but we did scrape past Monza either side of narrow but necessary Serie A wins over Lecce & Genoa  

The other defeat came in Munich as Bayern beat us 3-1 in the CL league stage, but only after we missed an 80th minute penalty at 2-1

The hangover from that was worse than expected though, as we went 3-0 down in the first half at home to Empoli next time out

A rare manager tantrum followed during the interval and the players salvaged some pride by rescuing a 3-3 draw at the death

It was a game we should have been winning and still a bad day at the office, but we supposedly have to take some positives from it in the end

The month was closed with two better results, beating RB Salzburg in Europe and Salernitana in the league -late goals in both gave flattering margins though

The other plus in January was that Jean-Philippe Mateta scored three goals in this period, and Andrea Colpani finally made some sort of impact too

Our Coppa Italia journey will probably come to and end in our first match of February as we travel to the capital to face AS Roma

In Serie A, it seems Internazionale would only fail to win the title by way of an epic collapse, but we are one of four sides competing for the next three CL spots

Mateta now has 9 goals in total with 7 from 21 in the league and just 2 from 8 in Europe, but he needs to deliver much more in the coming months

Despite plans to shed some senior pros in the window, transfer activity was somewhat less than we were predicting

The only first-team departure was on 14th January 2027 when central defender Sam Beukema was allowed to join AC Milan for 22 million Euros

Sam had been captain for three years until this summer, but as one our non-Itaiy trained players we were willing to let him move on now

His starts had been less this term with 13 appearances including 9 starts in Serie A but he had always been a good performer 

In his Bologna career he made 116 league appearances with 114 of them being starts and his average rating was always around the 7.00 mark

The only arrival came on 26th January 2027 with Nadir Zortea coming in as we looked to re-shape our options at right wing-back

With Dan Ndoye being offered out and attracting interest, and Michael Folorunsho not being certain of a new contract, we just wanted another Italian option here

The modest fee of 250,000 Euros and sensible wages seemed to support moving for a player who has been averaging around 7.00 in his last few Serie A campaigns

The only other departure was our third-choice goalkeeper who had signed for free and was too old to keep playing in the U-20 squad

This looks like we didn't try to do too much business, but the simple truth is we failed to complete exit deals for seven or eight squad members to leave

It's no real issue as we can sort most of this in the summer when promoting a whole host of our U-20 starlets to the senior squad for next year

One of those ready to step up is attacking midfielder Mattia Liberali (19) who we rejected multiple bids for from PSG and top Premier League clubs in January

In his first season with our U-20 side our future-star has so far recorded 28 goals and 18 assists in 36 games at an average rating of 7.85

We now look forward to the final 16 games in Serie A, and Brighton over two legs in our CL knockout play-off 

But next up is that Coppa Italia test away to AS Roma...

[warlock]

7 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

A rare manager tantrum followed... the players salvaged some pride

I'm sure you meant to say that an assertive halftime team talk resulted in improved performances . And rightly so!

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

Always difficult when, as you say, you don't have a reliable source of goals. Maldini seems to be doing alright but it would be nice if some of your other AMs/strikers could pick up a bit of slack. I'm sure you'll figure it out 

Yes you're spot on, we had relied on Mateta alot since he signed and now that he is not delivering we need others to contribute. The January update just posted above shows a few of them are doing that a little bit better, but they don't inspire complete confidence like JP had been doing before.

30 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Huge fan of the way you've worked Bologna up and loving the U-20 updates! Keep going!

Thanks for that, really appreciated! The U-20 squad is having another great season, and it's definitely time to move some to the seniors next season. We should still have a decent pool of players at that level too, but not as many as we have until now. Next year due to age we will begin to see a more 'newgen' dominated squad.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

I'm sure you meant to say that an assertive halftime team talk resulted in improved performances . And rightly so!

Haha exactly that! Google translate issues of course 

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2026/27 - Part 4 (February-March 2027)

A difficult February saw Bologna eliminated from two out of three competitions

Defeat to a strong AS Roma side in the Coppa Italia was not unexpected or surprising, and in truth gave us a chance to focus on the bigger challenges ahead

Initially this reduction in the work load seemed to spark us in to life, with two nice wins in Serie A and an excellent 3-1 home victory over Brighton in Europe

Unfortunately, we just could not cope with the Premier League side in the return leg in England, and a 3-0 loss dumped us out of the Champions League too

On the back of that we then had to face AC Milan away, and we were totally outplayed with our only goal in the 3-1 reverse coming in stoppage time

We did at least manage to salvage some pride with a late and narrow win in Sardinia against Cagliari and a slightly better one at home to Torino

It was probably good for us that March only had three fixtures after the busy month before, and we have to be pleased with how it turned out

The 3-0 win at Sassuolo was somewhat flattering - we were good but needed two goals late on to make the outcome look easier than it actually was

Atalanta (away) also presented a stern test, and we were grateful for the narrow 1-0 win with a solitary goal just after half-time to secure the points

Last time out we would have expected to beat Hellas Verona on home turf, with the relegation-threatened visitors in 16th and on a four-game losing streak

Even that was challenging though, going a goal behind before second-half goals from two substitutes delivered another late and narrow win

So whilst the green result icons suggest we are flying, we really don't feel at our best and we definitely need to sharpen up our act

The league table shows we are closer to the leaders than before, but the top five will all play a part in the closing two months for sure

We are still struggling to find a regular marksman, but the goals are being shared around as we search for the right formula

We recently changed our attacking structure to play two 'number 10s' with the inverted winger on the right now ditched and becoming another attacking midfielder

We are working on our squad plans for next season too, and wing-back Dan Ndoye is the latest player we have decided to move on 

He'll be joining Al-Wahda (UAE) for 20 million Euros in June after reaching a transfer agreement on 23rd February 2027 

We have also decided to cash in on loaned-out defender Alan Matturro as Salernitana will convert his loan in to a permanent 3.9 million Euros move in June

The Uruguayan has only averaged 6.39 in his spell there this season, and it's just not good enough to keep a player here who is performing like that

The pre-arranged departure of Jesper Karlsson to Palermo for 37.5 million Euros also completes in June, so financially we are in a good place already

Several others will be released in the summer at the end of their contracts too, so the wage bill is going to significantly reduce ahead of next season  

We now have eight Serie A games left to play, including Internazionale (home) & Juventus (away) in April and AS Roma (away) & Napoli (home) in May

The leaders are still red-hot favourites for the title, but with the gap reduced any one of the top three still have a chance of securing the Scudetto

For our part, we have to perform better in those clashes with the big sides if we want to secure Champions League football 

If we can do that, maybe we might have an outside chance of stealing the title after finishing 5th, 3rd and 3rd in the previous three seasons

[warlock]

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

We are still struggling to find a regular marksman

Any targets on your radar? A dependable frontman could make a huge difference, I think.

Shame about Brighton but you're looking very good for Champions League football again.

Tough run of games coming, but if you could find a way to beat Inter it would be a great start to the run. Good luck