It is not “sad, solitary and final” like Osvaldo Soriano’s novel, but the last act of the story between Thiago Motta and Bologna brings with it some obvious embarrassment. Only the seals of officiality are now missing on the farewell of the coach who brought the rossoblù to the Champions League, but in the last few hours the negative signals already noticed in Casteldebole in recent days have become numerous, to the point that in the meeting with Joey Saputo of this morning, Thursday 23 May, the predictions all point towards the same ending: Motta will tell the president that he wants to undertake other professional adventures and, despite the efforts made by the club’s owner, he will not renew his contract with Bologna which expires on 30 June.
Waiting for the joint communication
Today’s chat, barring unpredictable – and unforeseen – twists and turns – will only bring the formal act of greetings between Motta and the rossoblù: Saputo will have to take note of this and then leave the city for personal commitments (he won’t be at Marassi tomorrow evening), with a return scheduled for next week. Another clue came from the cancellation of Thiago Motta’s usual pre-match press conference, which was scheduled for today: the coach preferred this way, perhaps in accordance with his mantra “when there is news about the future you will know it”, postponing everything to after the Genoa match and avoiding the barrage of questions that would have been monothematic. It remains to be seen when the joint communication will be (so the coach had said) of the verdict and whether it can arrive today, but also the face office of the club’s end-of-season dinner, in the setting of Palazzo Albergati in Zola, spoke of greetings that seemed imminent: ritual smiles, satisfaction for the season that took place, but also a bit of embarrassment and the desire to remain more apart than the other festive protagonists.
The discontent of the square
A slow farewell, which began in part already on Monday evening with the words of Saelemaekers (“thank you mister for everything you have done for us”) and continued between one party and another, with the somewhat rigid status of those who did history but will greet during the celebrations, just like his mentor Mourinho after that Nerazzurri treble with destination Real Madrid.
And while radioportico gives its best, with ideas worthy of Italy’s 21-0 victory over England in the tragic Second Fantozzi (the rumors yesterday varied from «he renewed and signed for three years on Tuesday night» to «he’s moving now», all obviously from a “certain source” that bounced on WhatsApp), the bad mood of a large part of the square must be noted in view of the increasingly probable move to Juventus, bitter rival. Yesterday an isolated “Thank you Thiago” sheet appeared in red and blue on the gates of Casteldebole, but on radio and social media the disappointment at the arrival at the Vecchia Signora is palpable. «Among many who want him, right there?», «Okay, thanks Thiago, but if he goes to Juve from tomorrow he no longer exists for me». «If he had gone to any other club, only applause. Not like that.” And so on. It’s the betrayal syndrome, which even leads some to downplay the extraordinary work of the technician’s two years. The approach of the Bolognese would be different if the ending of the story were different (Barcelona and Manchester United, with Ten Hag leaving after the FA Cup final, remain two options), but Juventus seems to have missed everyone with the three-year contract worth over 4 net per year delivered to the Italian-Brazilian’s entourage some time ago, after the first approaches to Fiorano with sporting director Giuntoli.
The candidates for after Motta
While waiting for the black smoke, Bologna has however lost some strong candidates for the post-Motta period: afor example Francesco Farioli, who will sign with Ajax in the next few hours after the agreement between the Dutch and Nice for compensation. But this is a match that will now begin, because the time for goodbyes between Bologna and Motta has arrived.
