How times have changed in Italian football. An unexpected generational shift has seen Napoli evolve into a genuine powerhouse while Bologna have transcended from an average side to an outstanding underdog, bringing Coppa Italia glory and Champions League football to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.

Nobody expected either club to win silverware in 2024-25 while the likes of Inter and Juventus were left empty-handed, a true upheaval of the traditional calcio pyramid, one not seen since the mid-1980s.

But how are teams like Bologna and Napoli thriving in the calcio ecosystem in such a manner?

For years, the financial might of the Premier League has directly affected Serie A’s elites and their monopoly on success, with plenty of crafty top-flight teams with much lesser means able to snatch silverware away from them. The era of simply spending more to win more appears to be over for Juve, Milan and Inter, at least in the short term.

These days, it’s about building your calcio castle from the first brick. Atalanta and Napoli have blazed a trail when it comes to flipping promising starlets, an equity-building strategy which has garnered success on the pitch and unwavering faith in the stands.

With that, the gap between the great and the just good is closing much faster than anyone ever anticipated.

Are Bologna the new Napoli?

While this concept is relatively new to Joey Saputo’s Bologna project, Aurelio De Laurentiis and Napoli have played a pivotal role in the rise of the bargain-buy empire. This mantra helped the Partenopei rise from bankruptcy in 2004 to lifting a major Italian trophy just eight years later when they beat Juventus in the Coppa Italia final.

The timeline of success isn’t much different for Bologna, a club that narrowly avoided bankruptcy just over a decade ago. In just 11 years, the Saputo ownership team has reached their first significant milestone, beating Milan in the 2025 Coppa Italia final with a starting XI that cost €80.4million. That line-up now holds a market value of €222.9m.

As a result of that triumph, Bologna’s first trophy in 51 years, Napoli have launched a €30m assault for Sam Beukema, the Rossoblu central defender who has taken Serie A by storm. In addition, boss Antonio Conte is keen on their pacy €35m-rated winger Dan Ndoye.

Money, Money, Money

Should both sales go through, it would be the second consecutive season where Bologna have cashed in on two of their most-prized possessions, with Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee leaving for the Premier League in 2024 for a combined total of €87.5m.

It would also make Napoli Bologna’s top client, adding to a string of purchases that began with Miguel Britos (€9m in 2011), was followed by Amadou Diawara (€14.5m in 2016) and ended with Simone Verdi (€24.5m in 2018). If the Ndoye deal materialises, De Laurentiis will have spent €113m on Bologna players, surpassing previous highs at Torino (€82m), Lille (€91m) and Udinese (€95m).

Just four years into the Giovanni Sartori era, Bologna appear to be building a mini-empire in the Napoli mould – with transfer funds supplied by Napoli.

Proud To Be Napoli

When it comes to spending domestically, Napoli have a long history of unearthing gems at Italy’s less glamorous clubs – Edinson Cavani (Palermo), Allan (Udinese) and Marek Hamsik (Brescia) to name a few.

At the time of writing, Lorenzo Lucca is close to sealing his move from Udinese, initially on loan with a buying obligation and a deal worth €35m.

Napoli have bravely splashed big stacks of cash in Europe’s top five leagues, correctly identifying Victor Osimhen (Lille), Stanislav Lobotka (Celta Vigo) and Scott McTominay (Manchester United) as difference-makers. Still, De Laurentiis never gambled on external talents until he attained enough equity, always aiming to minimise risk and maximise reward. For the best part of two decades, Napoli have sourced elite footballers hungry for a chance to flourish on a big stage.

The true genesis of Napoli’s climb to greatness under De Laurentiis’ tenure is fascinating. It all began in 2007 when Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi were signed from Brescia and San Lorenzo, respectively, each for €5.5m. The former remained until 2019 and was sold for €20m. The latter would tentatively become Napoli’s record sale when PSG offered €30m in 2012.

Since then, PSG have periodically siphoned from the Neapolitan reservoir, becoming De Laurentiis most profitable client. The European champions have spent €187m over the past 12 years on four of Napoli’s best-ever, Lavezzi, Cavani, Fabian Ruiz and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. That’s a staggering profit of €126m.

The trickle-down effect means Napoli could afford to spend their surplus on Serie A’s in-form stars, with the €56.7m profit from Kvaratskhelia’s sale easily covering the €35m fee Bologna are asking for Ndoye, who cost Saputo €10.2m in 2023.

Accordingly, the €22m profit banked from Beukema’s sale means Martin Vitik’s signature is more palpable for Saputo and Sartori. At €11m, a sum any Premier League club would barely know went missing, the Sparta Prague defender became Bologna’s eighth-highest transfer in history.

Under Sartori’s watch, eight of Bologna’s 10 most expensive signings have arrived in the past four seasons. Only three of those – Thijs Dallinga, Jesper Karlsson and Santiago Castro – are set to stay this summer, but that could all change with the arrival of Ciro Immobile, who joined for free from Besiktas.

Clearly, Bologna’s buying and selling strategy under Sartori is gaining momentum as he carries out his fourth summer transfer window at the club.

It takes an open-minded attitude like Napoli’s, an in-between kind of club that relishes the chance to scoop up players on the fringes of prestigious teams (McTominay/Gonzalo Higuain) and those who have proved themselves at smaller outfits (Beukema/Osimhen), to help create an ecosystem where the wealth finds its way regularly to mid and lower-table teams.

When it comes to income from buying and selling players, Bologna is set to reverse a trend.

The Transformative Years

Just a few short seasons ago, Bologna were risking their Serie A existence on a concoction of relatively unimpressive youngsters and veterans in the winter of their careers. So, how did they go from backline options like Stefano Denswil, Ibrahima Mbaye, a 35-year-old Gary Medel and an evergreen Rodrigo Palacio in attack, to a side brimming with outrageous talent?

Their once disillusioned fanbase never imagined that the Dall’Ara would host some of Europe’s finest teams on cold midweek winter nights. With Sartori’s arrival, the mistakes of the past have steadily been resolved.

Over the past 10 seasons, Bologna have spent €393.6m on players, nearly €100m more than the €294.5m they received from player sales. Remarkably, Saputo has only paid above €15m for a player twice, when Zirkzee and Calafiori joined in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Instead, sporting director Sartori oversaw the rapid turnaround of purchases (€60m) and sales (€119.8m) of Zirkzee, Calafiori, and Beukema, resulting in a sizeable €59.8m profit from the trio.

And with that, the former Atalanta sporting director has now signed seven of the club’s 10 priciest players in history since joining in 2022.

Of course, this was unachievable without cashing in, with Arthur Theate, Aaron Hickey, Jerdy Schouten, Mattias Svanberg and Marko Arnautovic all shifted for a combined €66.1m – a total profit of €44.9m. These are unprecedented times in Bologna.

The Future

Castro is ranked as Serie A’s third-best U21 player by footballtransfers.com, the €45.6m-rated striker awarded 69.1 for skill, behind only Juve’s Kenan Yildiz (71.6) and Fiorentina’s Pietro Comuzzo (71.8).

Even if Sartori wanted to cash in on others like Lewis Ferguson, Juan Miranda or Jhon Lucumi, he would still have Argentinian starlet Castro within the ranks.

Arriving at the Stadio Dall’Ara 18 months ago from Velez Sarsfield for €13.2m, Castro has netted 11 times since joining and started the Coppa Italia final triumph over Milan. Despite having only represented his country at U20 level, he is ranked first in Best Future Argentine Players and seventh for Most Valuable Argentine Players.

And with Giovanni Fabbian, Benjamin Dominguez and Riccardo Orsolini playing a role in the club’s future, Bologna is well placed to follow Napoli’s lead and stay competitive for a long time.

The early signs are there: intelligent signings, huge profits on those sold, silverware already in the bag, and Champions League or Europa League qualification.