Marked for Lorenzo Grilli
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
AC Milan say no — this time
The offer from Reggiana for Davide Bartesaghi 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at AC Milan
Christopher Nkunku 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 targets19 Jul 2027
AC Milan offered $590.0K; Fiorentina 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Lumezzane pay $600.0K, 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 Jul 2027
A row about effort at AC Milan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrien Rabiot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jul 2027
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Pulisic, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mattia Zaramella and AC Milan agree another 4 years.
Market19 Jul 2027
AC Milan have let the market know Christian Pulisic can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Matteo Ferro out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lumezzane will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jul 2027
The fee is $720.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Perugia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market19 Jul 2027
The chase for Lorenzo Grilli ended with $600.0K changing hands and AC Milan out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Michele Rocca 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market19 Jul 2027
Reggiana paid $240.0K and Lumezzane took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Lumezzane asked and Guidonia Montecelio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Lumezzane
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
Matteo Ferro breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lumezzane people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Lumezzane and AC Milan have settled on $600.0K. 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The chase for Gabriele Guarino ended with $2.3M changing hands and Empoli out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market12 Jul 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 targets12 Jul 2027
Lumezzane have gone to Pergolettese with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Fabrizio Paghera 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
AlbinoLeffe pay $420.0K, 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.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Gabriele Guarino from Empoli for $2.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Lazio, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Milan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
The run is over for AC Milan
6 matches without defeat, and then Lazio. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ross Barkley 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
32 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the AC Milan dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Armando Baldini after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.