Marked for Youssef Mahrani
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Matteo Rossini out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Carpi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Carpi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Casertana, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Carpi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Carpi
Davide Zagnoni 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.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Rodrick Tcheuna falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to Eldense: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to Atalanta: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Erik Gerbi 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 Erik Gerbi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Matteo Rossini out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Carpi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
The offer went to Casertana 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cagliari keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Carpi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Figoli 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Carpi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Carpi
Michele Piccirillo 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.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
Erik Gerbi 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 Erik Gerbi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
“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.
Market9 Jul 2029
The Erik Gerbi story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Erik Gerbi signs something — a contract at Carpi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jun 2029
71 days out for Matteo Rossini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Carpi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Carpi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pisa, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market18 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Carpi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Carpi offered $780.0K; Bologna said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Carpi
Davide Zagnoni 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Carpi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Figoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AC Milan have kept their man, and Carpi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market18 Jun 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Leonardo Stanzani may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
No thanks: Thomas Boccia rejects the move
Carpi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Como, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Carpi
Davide Zagnoni 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Matteo Figoli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Carpi asked and Virtus Entella said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Carpi have made the call to AC Milan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Parma: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
“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 dugout11 Jun 2029
A promise honoured at Carpi
Something was said to Youssef Mahrani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market11 Jun 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom28 May 2029
Pressure builds in the Carpi boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom28 May 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Youssef Mahrani has agreed terms with Forli for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 May 2029
Words exchanged at Carpi
Davide Zagnoni 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.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Carpi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Figoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 May 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Carpi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout28 May 2029
“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.
Market28 May 2029
Erik Gerbi linked with a move away
The name of Erik Gerbi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Carpi say nothing, which says plenty.
Market28 May 2029
Carpi have let the market know Matteo Figoli can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 May 2029
31 days out for Fabio Lucchesi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Carpi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 May 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Mahrani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Carpi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Carpi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Figoli 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.
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carpi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 May 2029
Josip Čondrić 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 Carpi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 May 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Leonardo Stanzani may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout21 May 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Carpi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad21 May 2029
Tommaso Cecotti has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Carpi that is a harder question to answer.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Niccolò Pietra
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Carpi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leonardo Stanzani
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carpi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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 targets8 Jan 2029
Napoli wanted more than $1.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Carpi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Napoli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
The deal with Cagliari is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Avellino have kept their man, and Carpi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Carpi
Niccolò Pietra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Carpi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrick Tcheuna 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Giacomo Sandrolini
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Giacomo Sandrolini has come out of that comparison in the side, and Carpi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Sep 2028
9 unbeaten for Carpi
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Carpi did not have in the autumn.
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 Carpi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Carpi
Leonardo Morosini 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Matteo Figoli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Carpi 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Erik Gerbi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Carpi.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Carpi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Matteo Rossini
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Fabio Desole's mistake
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
No place for Tommaso Fazio in the new shape
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Carpi can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Venezia wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Inter keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carpi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Carpi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Figoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Carpi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The window shuts on the Mathis Mout deal
Carpi ran out of time with Monza. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Everybody at Carpi saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommaso Fazio and Carpi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Supporters organise against the Carpi 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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 targets23 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Pescara, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carpi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Carpi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lautaro Valiente falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Casarano 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
No investment in the facilities at Carpi
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Youssef Mahrani
“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.