Marked for Alessandro Berretta
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jun 2028
Luca Ravanelli has left for Genoa in a $4.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market19 Jun 2028
The bid was some way short and Monza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market19 Jun 2028
Campobasso pay $410.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Monza
Keita Baldé 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Crotone are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Monza will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Berretta, and the manager let it.
Loan watch19 Jun 2028
36 starts and an average of 7.18. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Monza would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Solomon Loubao 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 Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Monza production line keeps running
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Boardroom
The Monza board put their names to it
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
He is 21, he is averaging 7.35, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad22 May 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 Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
“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.
Loan watch22 May 2028
36 starts and a season average of 7.18. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Market22 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Carboni signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad22 May 2028
Jordan Longhi 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Monza production line keeps running
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Boardroom
The Monza board put their names to it
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Loan watch
The clock runs down on Dany Mota at Udinese
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Defensive actions: 34. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match4 Dec 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Cesena, and it could have been more.
Market6 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A performance of 9.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Monza
Patrick Ciurria 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 ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 9.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.80, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Monza release $22.2K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Kevin Martins
“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
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match22 Sep 2027
Cup progress for Monza
A 1‑0 win over Novara, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Monza may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Monza
Kevin Martins 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 ratings27 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Martins, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Catanzaro have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicolas Galazzi. The answer from Monza has not changed — yet.
Market7 Jun 2027
Spezia paid $1.3M and Monza took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Monza
Matteo Pessina 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Monza release $424.0K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Carpi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Monza and fight for my place.” 21 appearances in 42 matches say the rest.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
The goals keep arriving from Kevin Martins’s exile
10 goals in 30 games at Sambenedettese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Monza updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market7 Jun 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ascoli will make the call about Aljaž Strajnar this week. Monza have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Semuel Pizzignacco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Giana Erminio boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Matteo Marotta 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
A defender's afternoon for Andrea Piazza
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match27 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Ballabio. 1‑0 against AlbinoLeffe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Mar 2027
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
At 20, Lorenzo Berardi is already the best thing here
An average of 7.12 in a first team he is several years too young for. Giana Erminio have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad22 Feb 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 Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages eat 98% of everything Giana Erminio earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Giana Erminio's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giana Erminio has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 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 Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Sergio Mazza, and the manager let it.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Pro Patria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 5.71, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Giana Erminio is running low.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matteo Marotta 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Keehan Willows, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
$58.5K taken back off the Giana Erminio table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Matteo Marotta 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Previtali, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Oct 2026
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Giana Erminio's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giana Erminio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Matteo Marotta 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Giana Erminio know it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Alcione Milano left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luca Ferri gets it from the manager
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A mark of 5.75 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.