Former Dundee manager Ivano Bonetti could be back in top-flight football as part of a reported Qatari bid to buy his old club Sampdoria.
The former Juventus, Atalanta and Samp midfielder has been joined by Gianluca Vialli, both members of the Sampdoria side that won Serie A in 1991, as part of a consortium headed up by Sheikh Khalid Faleh Al-Thani, a member of the Qatar royal family.
In 2000, Bonetti took over at Dens Park and oversaw a period dominated by the arrivals of stars like Claudio Caniggia and Fabian Caballero.
However, huge financial issues followed the departure of Bonetti and his brother Dario in 2002 with Dundee going into administration a year later amid a debt of £23 million.
Since then Ivano Bonetti had six years as director of football at Italian lower-league club Pescina and as a coach at Serie D club Rimini in 2020.
‘Ready to go at any time’
Now he and former Sampdoria team-mate Vialli, who also played for Juventus and Chelsea, have joined entrepreneur Francesco Di Silvio to represent the Qatari royal family in a bid to buy their old club.
Sampdoria official Gianluca Vidal told Italian media: “A lawyer called me for the first time, he introduced himself and told me that he had received the mandate from Di Silvio, Vialli and Bonetti to follow this negotiation.
“We agreed that the right step is to organise a meeting between Al Thani and me, as I had already proposed in the past.
“This lawyer has shared this path and is committed to organising it.
“I’m waiting for news and I’m ready to go at any time.
“I confirm that I have not received any binding offers to date.”
As well as winning the Scudetto in 1991, Sampdoria won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1990 before being beaten in the European Cup Final two years later.
Recent times have been far less successful with the club stuck in mid-table in Serie A since promotion from Serie B in 2012.
Last season they finished 15th.
Ivano Bonetti on his love of Dundee and a potential return to Dens Park hot seat
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