Bologna’s sporting director Marco Di Vaio says Marko Arnautovic is ‘PRICELESS’
Bologna sporting director Marco Di Vaio says Marko Arnautovic is ‘PRICELESS’ to the club’s project as Manchester United’s problems in the transfer market continue
- Manchester United have seen Bologna reject an offer for the Austrian
- Marko Arnautovic is at the heart of the Bologna project and its ambitions, they say
- Marco Di Vaio told Italian television that Bologna wanted to keep him and strengthen the team with him
Marko Arnautovic is ‘priceless’ for Bologna’s ambitions, claims the club’s sporting director.
The 33-year-old Austrian is being courted by Manchester United after the club turned down an initial offer from Bologna.
Speaking to Italia 1 on Football Italia on Monday night, Bologna’s sporting director Marco Di Vaio detailed Arnautovic’s importance to the club and why the Italian side are so reluctant to sell the player to United.
Marco Di Vaio has outlined Marko Arnautovic’s importance to Bologna, saying he is ‘priceless’ to them
“It’s not easy to play in the transfer window, there’s a lot of talk, we want to keep Marko [Arnautovic],’ he said. ‘[Giovanni] Sartori, the President and [Claudio] Fenucci said that. He is the focus of our project.
“The interest in him makes us proud, mainly because he was an idea from Sabatini and was carried on by the club to realize a dream that would lead him here after two or three years in China.
“It was a bet we won, he responded on the pitch and we want to progress with him. We don’t want to sell him, we want to strengthen the team for an important season.”
Di Vaio said the interest in Arnautovic makes the club ‘proud’ but that he is not for sale
In another swipe at United, Di Vaio then spoke glowingly about Arnautovic’s importance to the sporting project, saying when asked what price the club was putting on his head that it was “not a question of money”.
“It’s not a question of money, he’s priceless for what he represents to us. We want to move forward with him because we believe he can do better and help us grow,” he said.
“He’s always the first in training, spurring on the others, he has no price tag.”
After a difficult start to the Erik ten Hag era, United crawled around the window and lost 2-1 at home to Brighton in the Dutchman’s first competitive game.
Erik ten Hag is finding it difficult to rebuild the club with the current squad
After chasing Frenkie de Jong for most of the summer, the club are now looking at other targets after the Brighton game provided the clearest indication yet that the current squad needed reinforcements.
The club are working on a deal to sign Adrien Rabiot from Juventus, with an initial fee of £15million agreed between the two clubs.
United fans on social media previously expressed dismay that the club’s transfer policy had seemingly fallen apart at the first sign of trouble. Many claimed Rabiot and Arnautovic’s efforts simply hinted at a club lacking a coherent strategy.
“We went from having specific targets to getting whoever is available at a reduced price. Man Utd never learns. These are really panic stations,” noted one supporter on Twitter.
Manchester United working on a transfer for Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot (above)
