The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Giugliano 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.
Murilo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cittadella have kept their man, and Giugliano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriele Guarino, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
The offer from Parma for Pedro Justiniano was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Giugliano asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Brandon Leszczuk is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with Monza; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Scaravilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giugliano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$400.0K on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Laezza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gubbio have kept their man, and Giugliano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giugliano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giugliano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The fee is $2.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Empoli drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giugliano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giugliano have done the hard part with Monza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Salvatore La Vardera and Giugliano agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Giugliano spend $2.4M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.4M for Gabriele Guarino, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lorenzo Epifani has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Giugliano have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giugliano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Scaravilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giugliano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Giugliano know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giugliano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giugliano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Giugliano know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Murilo. 1‑0 against Sorrento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giugliano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giugliano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
15 combined actions and 7.59. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Laezza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giugliano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
This is not rotation. Roberto De Rosa has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Giugliano is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giugliano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The offer went to Monza 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cosenza scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Giugliano are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Scaravilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giugliano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.52, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paolo Ruggiero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giugliano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Laezza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Monopoli ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Giugliano equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Paolo Ruggiero left the room before anybody could ask which.
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 8.40 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Crotone go through and Giugliano go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
6 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Scaravilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giugliano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. David Vicari 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.
Minute 101, against Crotone, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
In brief
Player ratingsMarco Ladisa beats them one at a time
Player ratingsThe kick that got away from Mattia Rigo
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giugliano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Jamal Iddrissou, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giugliano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Paris Saint-Germain, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Giugliano can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
Giugliano asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A loan enquiry to Empoli: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Matías Pérez loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Matías Pérez's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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.
Position 15 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Giugliano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giugliano have done the hard part with Carpi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
Francesco De Francesco 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.
Stefano Greco 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roberto De Rosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ibourahima Baldé has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.