Bologna, August 26, 2026 – The wall does not collapse: the refusal to sell Jonathan Rowe has been reiterated. All this after a couple of meetings with the player’s entourage, who arrived in the city to try and force the issue, at the player’s request. No Atalanta. The first meeting with Rowe’s agents took place on Tuesday, today a new episode, but the answer was the same. Bologna wavered, looked for alternatives, a sign that the idea of selling the Englishman was considered, both for cost reasons and for managing a squad in which Bernardeschi has declared his desire to play on the wing alongside Cambiaghi and Orsolini, and the department demands a huge wage bill: 2.5 plus bonuses for Orso, 1.5 plus bonuses for Bernardeschi and Rowe, 1 for Cambiaghi.
In short, Bologna evaluated Rowe’s departure, especially because with the arrival of the Englishman’s entourage, Atalanta had made a further offer of 40 million plus bonuses and a percentage on future resale. The city’s discontent played a role. Doors closed on alternatives, perhaps even bigger ones: Lang (27) from Napoli and Gudmundsson (29) from Fiorentina were sounded out, an attempt was made to insert Vargas (28) from Sevilla, rejected by the sender and directed to Olympiacos. The bottom line is, for costs, age, prospects and possibilities, Bologna did not find substitutes deemed up to par. And without a substitute, Rowe does not leave, despite the doubt remaining at Casteldebole that it is a financial mistake: because without adequate results and if the player does not refocus, in a year or in January his price could be lower, and for this reason too his departure had been considered.
After the last summit, however, for the Rossoblù management, according to what filtered today from the Casteldebole headquarters, this is a definitive decision that will not be revisited. It remains to be seen whether Atalanta will wait for Monday’s match for a last-minute assault or if, as seems probable, they will divert to other tracks. It also remains to be seen how Rowe will present himself tomorrow when training resumes. The technical area had already reiterated on the eve of the match against Lazio the importance of the player and the importance of keeping him, also because throughout the summer it worked on many profiles but not on the search for a winger. For ownership and the financial side, Rowe’s sale could have been evaluated. But not without adequate replacement.
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In the end, the decision, also thanks to the mood of the fans, is for Rowe to stay, who was on the market at the beginning of the summer, with Roma and in England, before Castro’s sale. But the request to leave in recent days shows how the idea of departure continues to dwell in the Englishman’s mind: now it’s up to Tedesco to manage his return to the group and the management of a department that, without Europe, will offer fewer rotation possibilities compared to recent seasons with Champions and Europa League.
