Italian club Bologna took extraordinary steps to encourage their talisman Marko Arnautovic to turn down Manchester United’s interest in him in the summer.
It is an open secret that Erik ten Hag and United were interested in bringing the former West Ham star to Old Trafford.
With Cristiano Ronaldo hell-bent on exiting the 20-time English champions, which would leave United short at striker position, the club looked to Arnautovic as a potential short-term solution.
The move was met with a hostile reception from fans and an outpouring of criticism directed at the club for going after a player with a questionable moral compass.
Ronaldo eventually stuck around and a move for the Austrian never came to fruition.
New details recently emerged about United’s unsuccessful chase for the 33-year-old, who is currently top scorer in Serie A with 6 goals.
According to Gazetta dello Sport via Sport Witness, Bologna ‘repeated and reiterated’ to United that they would not sell their star, who was tempted by a return to England.
“The Italians achieved the feat ‘with the final extra step’ of giving him a raise.”
“The salary increase was matching the offer from the team that Ten Hag coaches of 3 million euros/year net”.
While Bologna did not give Arnautovic a new contract to reflect his salary increase, they did so simply by giving him more money.
The player was impressed by the Italian club’s reluctance to let him go and how far they were willing to go to keep him at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
The point of view of the United fans meant that the situation ended in a win-win for all parties involved. The supporters fulfilled their wish not to have Arnautovic, Bologna were able to keep their man and the player received a significant payment.
