Besiktas in contact with Italiano after Bologna departure
BOLOGNA, ITALY – APRIL 09: Vincenzo Italiano, Head Coach of Bologna, looks on during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 Quarter-Final Leg One match between Bologna FC 1909 and Aston Villa FC at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on April 09, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Reports in Italy claim that Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas have been in contact with former Bologna head coach Vincenzo Italiano, who has been without a club since the end of the 2025-26 season.
Report: Besiktas in contact with Italiano
Italiano left his position as head coach of the Rossoblu by mutual consent at the end of March, bringing his two-year spell at the Dall’Ara to an end. Italiano took over from Thiago Motta ahead of the 2024-25 season, led the team into their historic Champions League campaign and went on to win the Coppa Italia later on during his first season in charge.
The coach left Bologna after an eighth-place finish in Serie A in 2025-26, which was not enough for European qualification, and a quarter-final finish in this season’s Europa League.
Italiano had been reported to be one of the frontrunners to take over from Antonio Conte as head coach of Napoli, but the Partenopei have since secured an agreement with Massimiliano Allegri following his Milan departure instead.
Options in Serie A for next season already appear to be running out for Italiano: Inter, Roma, Como and Juventus are set to stick with their current head coaches, Napoli have moved for Allegri, Milan are reportedly looking at Oliver Glasner and Arne Slot, Atalanta have pinched Maurizio Sarri, Lazio have secured Gennaro Gattuso, and that accounts for most of the Serie A top 10.
There could be opportunities for Italiano abroad, however, as Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Besiktas have been in contact with the 48-year-old.
Besiktas are in need of a head coach following the departure of Sergen Yalcin at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. The Istanbul outfit finished the Turkish season in fourth place, behind city rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce and also Trabzonspor. This means that they will be competing in the Europa League next season.
