Exclusive interview 

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On Monday night Bologna dealt a bitter blow to Napoli’s quest to win this season’s Serie A title by resolutely holding Antonio Conte’s contenders to a 1-1 draw. However, aside from an impressive point won against one of Italian football’s most formidable teams this season, the result also kept Vincenzo Italiano’s side above the likes of Juventus, Lazio, Roma and AC Milan in fourth place, and the prospect of Champions League football next season.

With a squad that cost just €132.1 million in transfer fees to assemble – or just €15m less than Juventus paid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 – Bologna have the seventh most expensively assembled squad in Serie A. And while clever tactics and the apparent fall from grace of some of the nation’s biggest clubs have undoubtedly played a role in Bologna’s rise, the club that only returned to Serie A 10 years ago has largely outpaced their larger and richer rivals with excellent signings in the transfer window. And few players have come to exemplify that more than club captain Lewis Ferguson. 

From Pittodrie to the pinnacle of Serie A

Ferguson missed most of the first half of the season with a cruciate ligament injury that ruled him out for the best part of seven months and the first 10 league games of the season, but the Scot only really got back up and running to full match sharpness in late February. Since then he’s started all but one league game for Bologna and, to no great surprise, the club’s form has risen dramatically with five straight wins in Serie A prior to Monday night’s draw with Napoli. Such form has pushed I Rossoblù back into contention for a top-four finish, as well as underlining how important the midfielder is to his team. 

Since making the €2 million move to Bologna in 2022 from Aberdeen, Ferguson has bagged 14 goals and six assists in 86 games for the Italian side. In his first season at the club, the Scotland international was the club’s fourth most used outfield player as Bologna marched to ninth place and their highest ever points tally in the modern era of the Italian top-flight. Then, in the following season, Ferguson stepped into a leading role in Thiago Motta’s team after being named captain. Clearly galvanised by the honour, Ferguson bagged ten goals and assists in 31 league games and played a pivotal role in the club improving on their historic finish the season before by finishing fifth and qualifying for the Champions League. The Scot, who was second only to Joshua Zirkzee for minutes in Motta’s team that season, would cap off a career-defining campaign by winning the Serie A Midfielder of the Year award. 

“I feel like I’ve really improved as a player,” said Ferguson in an exclusive interview with Transfermarkt, when asked about his journey from the granite backdrop of Pittodrie to the medieval towers of Bologna. “That was the one thing in my head when I moved to Italy, my first goal was to become a better footballer. Of course there’s other things when you move on to a bigger club in a bigger league. There’s so much that’s going to change. But my main goal was to become a better footballer. And I think I’ve done that. I’ve improved tactically, technically, everything. I would say it’s a really tactical league, you’ve got to be tactically aware and intelligent to be able to carry out the instructions that the manager gives. And I feel like I’ve improved in every department, which is really pleasing.”

To no great surprise, Ferguson’s market value has risen in line with his stature in Italian football. When the midfielder departed Aberdeen he was valued at just €2m, but since then his market value has risen to an impressive €24m. Remarkably, only four midfielders in Italian football have seen their market values increase by a higher amount in that period of time, making Ferguson Bologna’s fourth most valuable player and second only to Serie A rival Scott McTominay as the most valuable Scottish player in the world. But Ferguson can’t begrudge his good friend for being top of the list, following his successful transition from Manchester United to Napoli this season. 

“I wouldn’t say there’s a rivalry since we’re good friends when we go away with the national team,” notes Ferguson, when asked about locking horns with his compatriot in the Italian top-flight. “We speak about a lot of things, about being over here and playing over here and the differences to back home and whatever. But yeah, I’m really happy that he made the decision to come over and play in Italy. It looks like he’s really enjoying it. He’s doing really well in a good and happy team that are challenging for the title. So, yeah, I’m just happy to see another Scot, another one of my teammates, my national teammates, doing so well.” 

Like most footballers, the Bologna star tries not to focus too much on the changes to his market value from one market value update to the next, but certainly agreed that it showed how far he’s come since departing Scotland. “It’s obviously nice to see now a boy from Hamilton being worth that amount of money,” noted the midfielder who is now worth almost ten times more than the entire squad of his boyhood club Hamilton Academical. “I just want to do the best for my club, always try and be available, try and be fit and try and perform for the coach and the team and just try and do the best I can.” 

While Ferguson remains a key player under Italiano, his rise at Bologna really came under Motta, who departed for Juventus last summer and tried in earnest to bring the Scot with him to Turin before negotiations broke down. Motta has since lost his job at the Old Lady, but Ferguson was still full of praise for his old boss and put the former Barcelona and Italy midfielder’s experience in the middle of the pitch down to his development as a player. “He really improved me as a teammate,” said Ferguson, when asked about Motta’s coaching methods. “When he came in, his whole focus was on how the team functions and fits into his system and his way of playing. I really learned a lot tactically in terms of being a midfielder. Sometimes he would speak to me in terms of my body shape. That was probably the thing that he shouted at me the most about was my body shape when receiving the ball in certain areas of the pitch. When to have your body open or when not to. Just really small details.”

Making history – leading Bologna to the Champions League

With Motta in the dugout and Ferguson in midfield, Bologna made history last season by qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s 116-year history. Such a feat led to fans literally taking to the streets in celebration, with thousands of supporters filling the city’s Piazza Maggiore with flares, flags and celebrations into the small hours of the night. “It was amazing,” recalls Ferguson when the club confirmed their top-four finish.”Not just for the players because it was always one of my dreams to play in the Champions League and to achieve that was incredible. But also in terms of the club and the people that work at the club that have been there for many years and the fans that know the city. It was just incredible. Everybody was so happy and we were so proud to be the team to achieve that for Bologna.”

Ferguson’s aforementioned long-term injury naturally ruled him out of Bologna’s first three games of this season’s Champions League campaign, forcing the Scot to wait until matchday four to make a brief cameo towards the end of his team’s 1-0 defeat to Monaco. But, fortunately for the midfielder, he was back up to match fitness by the time Lille came to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, where Ferguson led his team out as captain to the backdrop of the competition’s famous anthem. “I missed the first four games obviously because of the injury,” noted Ferguson as he recalled that evening in November. “But hearing the music and standing there, especially as captain of your team, is a special moment because that music to me, every time I hear it, it just takes me back to when I’m a kid and I’m watching TV at night and watching the big games. When you hear that music, it just gives you an incredible feeling.” And that intersection of a special moment in history for the player, his club and the wider city is something that was certainly not lost on Ferguson. “All these players that you looked up to and all the big games, it’s so special and then to hear that music yourself and you being the one that’s playing. There’ll be kids in Bologna that are then watching us and having the same feeling that I had when I was a kid. So that gives me a lot of pride.”

Whether it be coming through the youth ranks at Hamilton, breaking into the first team at Aberdeen, or guiding Bologna to new continental heights, Ferguson seems intent on continuing the remarkable upward trend of his career. And that means more games in Europe’s premier competition and getting used to the anthem that still sends shivers down his spine. “As soon as you get a taste of something so special, like the Champions League, you just want more,” noted the Scotland international. “It’s just that same feeling when I was coming through the youth teams when I was at Hamilton Accies and then I got a taste of first team football. It’s just that same feeling when you get it, you just want more and then you push and you get more and then eventually it’s the next step. And to get to this stage and we’ve now had the taste of this and I’ve had the taste of Champions League football. I’ve just got that hunger again, I want more.”

Juventus or the Premier League? Ferguson’s goals for the future

The question that remains is which club would be best suited to help Ferguson continue his love affair with European football. Bologna remain on course for a return to the coveted European competition, but there may be a few more twists and turns before the end of the season that knock them out of contention. And at that point the Scotland international may be forced to consider his options. “You know, I’m happy here and if we are playing in the Champions League then of course I would be happy to stay here,” confirms Ferguson when asked about his future ahead of the summer transfer window, which will inevitably see the player once again get linked to bigger Italian clubs. “Also, if not, it’s a beautiful place and a great club who’s given me a lot. So I’m really happy here. There was interest last summer. There’ll be interest again at some point. That’s just the way football goes. That’s the nature of the game. And let’s say you never know what’s going to happen in the future.” 

While Ferguson remains relaxed about his immediate future, there’s little doubt that he does harbour ambitions of challenging himself in the Premier League. “When I was growing up, it was always a dream and that’s not really changed too much,” admits the Bologna star. “At some point in my career, I would love to go and test myself. When you’re brought up in the UK and playing in Scotland and watching a lot of Scottish football, it’s like the next step is to go to the Premier League. It’s just natural for players in Scotland. But yeah, it’s something I would like to do at some point in my career.” Whether that opportunity arises this summer remains to be seen, but if Ferguson continues to perform for Bologna as he has done to date, it seems like only a matter of time before a big English club comes to the same conclusions that Juventus made last summer. But for now, Ferguson is proud of the progress he’s made in Serie A and is perfectly content with making history with Bologna each and every season. “If it’ll ever happen, I don’t know. Or when, I’m not sure,” noted Ferguson. “But like I said, I’m very happy here, playing in Italy and enjoying the lifestyle and the culture over here.”