Marked for Ivan Krasilschikov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mantova lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
Luca Sonzogni: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mantova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Feb 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 Mantova can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Mantova until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Feb 2029
The Catania deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nicolò Camarda reports back to Mantova with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fiorentina have kept their man, and Mantova go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Daniel da Silva 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.
Match3 Feb 2029
0‑2 to Avellino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Jan 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Juve Stabia, and it could have been more.
Market8 Jan 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lumezzane had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Mantova, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mantova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Daniel da Silva 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.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Antonio Fiori was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Frosinone have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Vadim Solovjov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vadim Solovjov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jul 2028
Antonio Fiori 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 Mantova can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Mantova and AS Roma have settled on $1.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Mantova had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cagliari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Mantova asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Mantova
Daniel da Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Antonio Fiori knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mantova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rareş Ilie’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Francesco Bardi wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Mantova have no good answer.
Market17 Jul 2028
Mantova have made Rareş Ilie available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.