Hellas Verona have opened the door to selling the Scotland international, who joined from Hibernian for around €6 million in January and impressed despite being unable to prevent the club's relegation to Serie B, but want to include Mulattieri in any deal.
The Italian forward is regarded as something of a promotion specialist, having already won two Serie A promotions, with Frosinone and Sassuolo, plus one in Spain with Deportivo La Coruña. Sassuolo are believed to be leading the race ahead of Cagliari, Bologna and Celtic, with Verona's asking price for Bowie in the region of €9-10 million plus add-ons. Both players are said to be open to the move, with representatives for each expected to attend the clubs' meeting to help finalise the structure of the deal.
Any new arrival up front would add competition for Sassuolo's existing squad, which includes 18-year-old midfielder Darryl Bakola, who spoke to SassuoloNews.net from the club's pre-season training camp in Ronzone.
Bakola, who joined from Marseille for around €10 million in February, said the retreat was helping build team spirit ahead of the new season and praised head coach Alberto Aquilani's positional guidance.
"I see myself very much in the middle, I'm still learning and trying to adapt. Even when I move from midfield out to the flank, I find it's an ideal position there too," he said, adding that Ismael Koné's serious World Cup injury with Canada had opened up a route into the side he felt ready to take.
Bakola also reflected on his two years working under Roberto De Zerbi at Marseille, calling the experience transformative.
"At Marseille they make you understand you have to sweat, fight on the pitch, because there's a whole stadium expecting you to battle.
"The Vélodrome, in terms of atmosphere, is the best stadium in the world. With De Zerbi I learned so many things, it was a huge change for me — I improved massively both technically and tactically over those two years. I'll always be grateful to him, because he contributed to my development," he said, recalling that De Zerbi's parting advice before his move to Italy was simply to stay true to himself.
Bakola also touched on witnessing the well-documented Rabiot-Rowe dressing-room fallout at Marseille, saying only that it left him "a little shocked," and set himself a target of at least 15 league starts this season, citing Paul Pogba and Arsenal's Eberechi Eze as players he draws inspiration from.