Marked for Patrick Nuamah
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Aug 2031
56 days out for Kamel Hamidi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Union Berlin will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Aug 2031
Mainz 05 come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Union Berlin did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Aug 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Nathaniel Brown and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Union Berlin asked and Hamburger SV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Union Berlin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Bro Hansen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad11 Aug 2031
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Rani Khedira knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rani Khedira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Aug 2031
Union Berlin have made Benoît Picard available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jul 2030
Gioele Zacchi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sassuolo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market1 Jul 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Sassuolo
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sassuolo is running low.
Market1 Jul 2030
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nicolò Guerra had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market1 Jul 2030
Valent Šavor hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Jay Idzes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
$230.0K on the table at Union Brescia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Patrick Nuamah
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jun 2030
521 appearances across 19 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Sassuolo know what they have.
Market3 Jun 2030
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sassuolo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Jun 2030
Avellino come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sassuolo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Jun 2030
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Stefano Turati, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market3 Jun 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sassuolo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Jay Idzes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Sassuolo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Lipani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
Sassuolo asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Jun 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sassuolo, another week without a signature from Domenico Berardi.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 May 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 May 2030
Only the photograph left for Daniel Boloca
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Boloca will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sassuolo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 May 2030
A falling-out at Sassuolo
Jay Idzes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 May 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valent Šavor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch20 May 2030
38 starts now, an average of 6.72, and the team sheet at Hellas Verona has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Market20 May 2030
The name of Armand Laurienté keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sassuolo say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout20 May 2030
Patrick Nuamah asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market20 May 2030
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sassuolo money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 May 2030
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Match4 May 2030
Beaten 1‑4 by Cagliari, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom6 May 2030
A stranger takes charge at Sassuolo
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Boardroom6 May 2030
Crisis meeting at Sassuolo
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market6 May 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 May 2030
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad6 May 2030
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad6 May 2030
Jay Idzes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market6 May 2030
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces1 Apr 2030
Supporters organise against the Sassuolo board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom1 Apr 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Sassuolo
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sassuolo is running low.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market1 Apr 2030
Stefano Turati has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sassuolo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sassuolo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
A defender's goal wins it for Sassuolo — 7.89
1 for Giuseppe Leone, marked 7.89, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Sassuolo
Jay Idzes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match30 Mar 2030
Still nobody has beaten Sassuolo
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
A brace, and Francesco Camarda takes the afternoon — 9.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Francesco Camarda provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A falling-out at Sassuolo
Jay Idzes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A move Ahmed El Shimi would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ahmed El Shimi is living that version at Sassuolo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match23 Feb 2030
Como made Sassuolo work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The terraces25 Feb 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Francesco Camarda has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yeferson Paz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jan 2030
The wait goes on for Sassuolo
17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sassuolo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Jay Idzes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Jan 2030
A bad afternoon for Sassuolo against Parma
3‑5 to Parma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match26 Jan 2030
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sassuolo and Parma in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2030
Sassuolo asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings28 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Jan 2030
15 matches without a win for Sassuolo
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Sassuolo are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Jan 2030
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sassuolo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jan 2030
Avellino come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sassuolo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jan 2030
Cristian Volpato has left for Inter in a $18.5M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match14 Jan 2030
Sassuolo sink to position 18
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market14 Jan 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
The offer went to AS Roma this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The terraces14 Jan 2030
Sassuolo sell a favourite for $18.5M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Cristian Volpato was one of the reasons people came, and $18.5M does not replace that by itself.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Dec 2029
The wait goes on for Sassuolo
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market24 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sassuolo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market24 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sassuolo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match22 Dec 2029
Sassuolo leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Sassuolo
Jay Idzes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Stefano Turati
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The terraces24 Dec 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sassuolo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match1 Dec 2029
The wait goes on for Sassuolo
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Riccardo Giordano has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
Emergency meeting at Sassuolo
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Jay Idzes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Dec 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Nov 2029
Sassuolo are in real trouble now
Position 18, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match17 Nov 2029
7 matches without a win for Sassuolo
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sassuolo are no longer polite ones.
Market19 Nov 2029
Emmanuele Are hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Sassuolo
Jay Idzes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market19 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sassuolo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match17 Nov 2029
A bad afternoon for Sassuolo against Spezia
1‑3 to Spezia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Sassuolo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Leone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.