Raimondo’s three-goal start is no regret for Bologna, says Di Vaio

Antonio Raimondo has scored three goals in his first two league appearances for Frosinone, but Bologna sporting director Marco Di Vaio says the striker’s fast start is part of his development, not a decision the club regrets. Bologna still see the 2004-born forward as part of their future plans.

Speaking to DAZN before Bologna’s match against Inter, Di Vaio said Raimondo was the first player the club contacted in the summer, when then-coach Tedesco wanted to assess him in pre-season. Raimondo understood that another season at Frosinone, where he would have the club’s trust, could help him progress.

“He’s our player,” Di Vaio said. “We’ve supported him through difficult moments, and he knows we follow him every Sunday and are waiting for him.” Di Vaio said Bologna would decide on the striker’s next step next year, while describing him as “the future of Bologna”.

The early numbers make Raimondo’s progress hard to ignore. Frosinone sit fifth with 13 points after seven matches, while Bologna are 14th with five points from six games. But Di Vaio’s position is that the gap between the clubs’ current standings does not change Bologna’s view of Raimondo: his progress away from the first team is a development path, not evidence of a mistake.

Bologna’s own rebuild is taking longer than the club would like. Di Vaio said the previous Sunday’s result had helped the team work more calmly, but changing coach after four matches meant losing some of the work completed over the summer. He said the players were following Palladino’s ideas and that Bologna wanted to return to being protagonists, as they had been in recent years.

Di Vaio also outlined the club’s thinking in goal. He called experienced Lukas Skorupski the present, saying the goalkeeper had earned Bologna many points, and described Massimo Pessina as the future. Bologna believe in Pessina’s qualities, but Palladino is still working out the goalkeeping hierarchy. Pessina has made two league appearances this season.

Bologna’s next match is at home to Inter, while Frosinone visit Atalanta on 25 October. Those fixtures bring another opportunity to watch Raimondo’s progress, but Di Vaio has already made Bologna’s stance clear: the club are tracking him and still see a route into their plans.