Chievo’s miracle rise out of obscurity, Atalanta’s transformation from yo-yo club to Scudetto contenders. Bologna’s ascent from mid-table to the Champions League. A quarter of a century might separate the first of these iconic calcio underdog stories from the most recent, but they share a common denominator: Giovanni Sartori.

In an age when sporting directors are the subjects of as much transfer speculation as teenage prospects, and face TV cameras as often as beleaguered head coaches, Sartori’s underappreciated CV still hasn’t received the widespread acclaim it deserves. 

Maybe that’s just how he likes it. Sartori has spoken about his ‘analogue’ approach to scouting; refusing to use WhatsApp, favouring face-to-face meetings or phone calls, and watching hundreds of live games every season in person. 

“We use an algorithm because it can help, but it is always the eye test that makes the difference,” he said.  

It would be foolish to question his old-school methods. They have worked to spectacular effect over a variety of clubs, budgets, head coaches and eras.  

Bologna stand on the brink of an astonishing season, with a first Coppa Italia final since 1974 at their fingertips and a top-four finish looking more realistic with each passing week.

There are plenty of key figures behind this success story, but Sartori is certainly one of them. 

After all, you don’t get nicknamed ‘The Cobra’ if you are no good at your job – that is the moniker sometimes used due to his ability to choose the precise moment to strike in the transfer market. 

Sartori penned a new deal to 2027 with the Rossoblu in February, but that has not stopped him being linked with Milan, Juventus and Roma in recent weeks – roles that would mark the 68-year-old’s first ‘big-club’ job. 

So who is the Bologna transfer guru, and what makes him such a force that ex-Rossoblu coach Andrea Mandorlini recently described him as “the best sporting director in circulation”? 

Born in 1957 in the Lombardy town of Lodi, 50km south of Milan, Sartori’s playing career did not suggest he would later become an influential figure in Italian football. 

A forward, he played for Milan’s youth teams and scored against Juventus on his debut in the Coppa Italia in 1975. After several loans, he became part of the Rossoneri squad. Despite rarely featuring he helped Milan win their 10th Scudetto – and earn the first star – in 1978-79.  

He was sold to Sampdoria and spells with Cavese, Arezzo, and Ternana followed before what turned out to be a career-defining decision to join amateur side Chievo Verona. 

Then in the ‘Campionato Interregionale,’ Sartori featured as a player when they were promoted to Serie C2 in 1987 and as player-assistant manager when they went up to Serie C1 the following year – before everything changed. 

“The president Luigi Campedelli insisted that I do the course to become a sporting director,” Sartori later explained to Corriere dello Sport.

“I started working as an SD in September 1992, and just a few days later, Campedelli died. His son Luca stepped in, who was then 24 years old. He was very young, I was young, and we had a young Alberto Malesani as coach.”

But the kids were alright. Under that management, they began to fly up the leagues with the force of a hurricane in what has become known as the ‘Chievo Miracle’, a feat so unlikely and outrageous that they became affectionately known as the ‘Flying Donkeys’ to remind fans of rivals Hellas Verona of their quips about mussi volanti being likelier than seeing Chievo in Serie A. 

Over 20 years, Sartori’s savvy eye for a signing helped propel Chievo to the top flight, pushed them into Europe three times, and ensured they cemented themselves as a Serie A regular. 

The blueprint of his method was established in this period, with the director displaying a gift for identifying talented or less well-known players with huge potential – Andrea Barzagli, Amauri and Sergio Pellissier among them – while also recognising when players widely considered to be past their peak still had something to give, such as Eugenio Corini or Luca Marchegiani. 

Big transfer fees were never a feature of Chievo’s success, with Alberto Paloschi remaining the club’s record signing at €6.5million from Genoa in 2012. Instead, Sartori proved himself an expert, meticulous bargain-hunter. 

It came as a big shock, then, when he suddenly announced that his 30-year association with the Veronese club was up in 2014. “I’m tired,” he admitted. “I need to think about myself too… I feel like I’ve given everything.”

Sartori did not sit still for long, though. He was a wanted man, after all. He had previously come close to joining Torino before a change of heart, later admitting he had “turned down important offers and a salary four times bigger than mine” while he was at Chievo. 

His next move will have been a considered one, then, when a month after leaving the Stadio Bentegodi, Sartori was announced as Atalanta’s new sporting director to kickstart the underdog success story that continues to this day.

Although the first couple of seasons showed few signs of what was to come, with Edy Reja leading La Dea to 17th and 13th-place finishes, Sartori was already putting some important building blocks in place ahead of Gian Piero Gasperini’s 2016 arrival. 

In his first transfer window, Atalanta signed young wing-backs Davide Zappacosta and Leonardo Spinazzola and a certain 26-year-old playmaker from Metalist Kharkiv called Alejandro Gomez. When the winter came around, a teenage midfielder arrived from Stella Club in the Ivory Coast after impressing at the Under-17 World Cup. His name was Franck Kessie. 

From that point on, names that have become household in Bergamo kept arriving for what now seem like laughably small fees: Rafael Toloi from Sao Paulo for €3.5m, Marten De Roon from Heerenveen for €1.3m, Berat Djimsiti for free, Remo Freuler from Luzern for €1.5m. 

Gasperini, therefore, already had the core of his first team in place when he arrived, while youngsters like Alessandro Bastoni, Andrea Conti, Mattia Caldara and Andrea Petagna soon earned international call-ups, too. 

Sartori’s eye for deals in smaller European leagues was particularly notable, with Robin Gosens, Hans Hateboer and Timothy Castagne following De Roon over from the Netherlands and Belgium. Jose Luis Palomino joined from Bulgarians Ludogorets Razgrad, and a 16-year-old Dejan Kulusevski was poached from Swedes Brommapojkarna. 

Atalanta were operating with a mid-table budget – they still have only the eighth-highest wage bill in Serie A – but when money needed to be spent, it was often spent well, like €26m for Duvan Zapata, €18m for Luis Muriel, €16m for Cristian Romero and €12m for Teun Koopmeiners. The first two more than repaid their fees with goals, while the second two produced huge profits when sold for €50m and €55m, respectively. 

There were inevitably some misses to go with the hits along the way – Sam Lammers won’t be remembered affectionately – but Sartori’s ability to continually regenerate the squad with fresh talent that complemented Gasperini’s demanding style was laudable. 

He explained recently that Didier Drogba almost became an Atalanta player, saying: “We had already signed him, but the deal collapsed over nothing.”

However, Sartori moved on in the summer of 2022 amid reports of a breakdown in his relationship with Gasperini – which he did not deny in his CdS interview last year.

“There wasn’t great compatibility with Gasperini,” he said. “But that is just a detail that has become unimportant after all the good work we did at Atalanta.”

That brings us to Bologna. A new club, a new challenge, and once again, the same result: a string of clever signings leading to remarkable on-field achievements. 

Joshua Zirkzee and Lewis Ferguson arrived in Sartori’s first summer window. A year later, the former would be Bologna’s top scorer and the latter their captain and Serie A midfielder of the year. Together they achieved a historic Champions League qualification under Thiago Motta. 

The appointment of Motta to replace Sinisa Mihajlovic early in the 2022-23 season was also thanks to the judgement of the Rossoblu’s eagle-eyed man behind the scenes. 

“He was a coach that intrigued me a lot,” Sartori said.

“I followed him when he was at Spezia because we had three Atalanta players there, and I was interested in (M’Bala) Nzola and (Jakub) Kiwior. I liked his football, so I sent one of my staff to follow him for a week.”

For all that immediate success at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Sartori’s ability to continue building for the future and spot gaps that needed filling in advance was put to the test more than ever this season.

Riccardo Calafiori’s signing from Basel was an enormous success from a business standpoint, with the Italy defender joining for €4m and being sold to Arsenal for €45m within a year. But his loss, along with Zirkzee’s €43m move to Manchester United and Motta joining Juventus, left Bologna short of key components. 

Or so we thought. Few expected the Rossoblu to challenge the top four once again this term. Still, Vincenzo Italiano’s side has lifted off since the turn of the year, with the former Fiorentina coach’s appointment now looking every bit as smart as Motta’s. 

While some of Sartori’s earlier signings like Ferguson, Jens Odgaard, Remo Freuler, Sam Beukema and Dan Ndoye have continued to play key roles in 2024-25, the director has earned most praise for a rare bit of South American talent-spotting. 

Striker Santiago Castro’s €12m move from Velez in January 2024 and the capture of winger Benjamin Dominguez from Gimnasia for €4.5m in the summer already look like outrageous steals, with the duo earning senior Argentina call-ups in March and contributing a combined 11 goals this season. 

It was little wonder, then, when Sartori was nominated for Globe Soccer’s Sporting Director of the Year Award for 2024, even if Inter’s Piero Ausilio took home the prize. 

Sartori is a coach’s dream, something Venezia’s Eusebio Di Francesco was eager to point out earlier this season, saying: “Wherever he goes, he creates the structures to put his coach in the best condition to do their job, with a strong squad of well-researched players.” 

If Sartori is still flying below the mainstream radar for now, he won’t be for long if the speculation persists about interest from some of Serie A’s top clubs. 

If the rumours are accurate, it does at least tell one flattering truth: it has taken 25 years, but the giants of Italian football have finally learned from the feats of Chievo, Atalanta and Bologna – if you don’t make him your ally, the Cobra will sting you. 

Alasdair Mackenzie is freelance sports reporter working and living in Rome. Follow him on X – @aksmackenzie