TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Report

You can add yet another suitor to the Zlatan Ibrahimovic sweepstakes, according to new reports out of Italy, and there’s an interesting if indirect MLS connection.

Serie A club Bologna are the latest outfit to enter the pursuit for the Swedish megastar’s signature as he mulls his next move following two sterling seasons with the LA Galaxy, reports influential Italian publication Corriere dello Sport.

Word is that Ibra is prepared to spend the next season and a half with the Rossoblu for a pay packet of around €8 million (US$8.9 million), a rate relatively comparable to his current wages in LA, as he ponders a return to the nation where he spent some of the most fruitful years of his career. In fact his representative, superagent Mino Raiola, is said to already be in talks with the club’s brass.

Chaired by Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo, Bologna currently sit 14th in the Italian top flight and could certainly use that shot in the arm in both competitive and marketing terms, though the report suggests that some of the club’s corporate partners would have to be called upon to chip in the funds to make it happen.

Ibrahimovic spent the better part of a decade in Serie A from 2004-12, with the exception of a brief adventure at FC Barcelona, racking up goals and trophies for Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.

Although there has been strong interest across the globe for soon-to-be out-of-contract striker, the Galaxy last week confirmed through sporting director Dennis te Kloese they would also be talking to Ibrahimovic about re-upping in Los Angeles.