Marked for Dylan Peraić-Cullen
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Aug 2036
The bid was some way short and Lecce did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
The deal with Pisa 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Tempers go at Lecce
Jerónimo Gutiérrez 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
“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 Lecce know it.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Lecce go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Aug 2036
The manager makes an example of Louis Birkhahn
“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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Lecce are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
A row about effort at Lecce
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éwil Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Aug 2036
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecce, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
-
The dugout
Lukas Talen has become a man the manager trusts
-
Match
Lecce in the hunt for Europe
-
Market
Still no signature from Máximo Oses
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Jun 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecce can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Jun 2036
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wellington Phoenix waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lecce is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
The clubs have shaken hands with Como; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventus have kept their man, and Lecce go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Jun 2036
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerónimo Gutiérrez 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 dugout30 Jun 2036
Sidy Ndongo 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.
Squad30 Jun 2036
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lecce can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
A loan move for Isreal Kingsley is in the works
Lecce have made the call to Sassuolo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market30 Jun 2036
Lecce have let the market know Louis Birkhahn can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
The clubs have shaken hands with Inter; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market23 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad23 Jun 2036
Tempers go at Lecce
Jerónimo Gutiérrez 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.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
Lecce 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.
Boardroom23 Jun 2036
Perugia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Michelangelo Conti has pre-agreed a move to Lecce, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad23 Jun 2036
A row about effort at Lecce
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelo Antonio Di Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Jun 2036
Too much change too quickly at Lecce
7 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.
Squad23 Jun 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paolo Battaglia commits to Lecce for another 4 years.
Market23 Jun 2036
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 May 2036
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Crotone, and it could have been more.
Market2 Jun 2036
“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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jun 2036
Lecce refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 73 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2036
The offer went to Cremonese 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.
Market2 Jun 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trento have kept their man, and Lecce go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match31 May 2036
Lecce settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Crotone spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Looking ahead2 Jun 2036
The big one: Pisa come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Lecce will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings2 Jun 2036
Marked 8.31 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Apr 2036
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lecce will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Apr 2036
Only the photograph left for Cesare Lanza
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cesare Lanza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecce the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
“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.
Match26 Apr 2036
Bari take the points off Lecce
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danilo Bellucci 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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
“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 Lecce know it.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
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 0‑1 Pierre Charpentier left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings28 Apr 2036
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
Lukas Talen gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lukas Talen is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Marco Arsena out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lecce will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Mar 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecce can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecce have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Mar 2036
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Market3 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Cesare Lanza
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cesare Lanza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecce the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match1 Mar 2036
Three points for Lecce, 2‑0 the final word against Cesena in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sidy Ndongo, and the manager let it.
Market3 Mar 2036
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Feb 2036
“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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Feb 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Feb 2036
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match23 Feb 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Traniello. 2‑0 against Cosenza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Andrea Traniello was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leonardo Gastaldello and Lecce agree another 4 years.
Squad25 Feb 2036
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lecce can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Danilo Bellucci 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.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Pierre Charpentier kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Feb 2036
Lecce are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 43 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Window shuts: 1 in, 4 out at Lecce
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market4 Feb 2036
Lecce say no — this time
The offer from Wellington Phoenix for Dylan Peraić-Cullen 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.
Market4 Feb 2036
Cesare Lanza has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lecce they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A falling-out at Lecce
Andrea Traniello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ramos 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 targets4 Feb 2036
Lecce asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Feb 2036
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Feb 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hagen Schneider and Lecce agree another 2 years.
In brief
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Boardroom
Lecce release $6.4M for the manager
-
Market
Still no ink between Lecce and Thulani Dala
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Jan 2036
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match12 Jan 2036
The run at home goes on for Lecce
15 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market14 Jan 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lecce people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words exchanged at Lecce
Andrea Traniello 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
A row about effort at Lecce
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lazio have kept their man, and Lecce go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Marked 8.14 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Dec 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lecce is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Tempers go at Lecce
Gerardo Serra 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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ramos 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 dugout24 Dec 2035
Bilal Mousa 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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
“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; Lecce are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Marked 7.56. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pierre Charpentier was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Lecce dressing room was either.
Market24 Dec 2035
The clock does Rodrigo Ramos’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lecce could ask drops and the wages Rodrigo Ramos can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2035
Sebastiano Toscano damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
An offer of $2.0M for Cristo
Lecce have gone to Torino 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Lecce go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pescara is saying, and nobody at Lecce is enjoying the guessing.
Squad20 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Rodrigo Ramos 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.
The dugout20 Aug 2035
“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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lecce can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout20 Aug 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrea Traniello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Jul 2035
“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 targets16 Jul 2035
Lecce 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.
Market16 Jul 2035
Lecce say no — this time
The offer from Salernitana for Luca Cura 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Lecce
Rodrigo Ramos 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Nicola Profeta 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
“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 Lecce know it.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Time is catching up with Pedro Rosas
Everybody at Lecce saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
Market16 Jul 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Spezia 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jun 2035
A fracture rules Hayden Phillips out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Adelaide United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jun 2035
Jake Fletcher 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 Adelaide United can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
The deal with Brisbane Roar 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.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Dylan Pierias 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 targets25 Jun 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Adelaide United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
Melbourne Victory 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.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
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.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
The manager makes an example of Kai Smith
“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 dugout25 Jun 2035
Jake Fletcher 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 Adelaide United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jun 2035
Tomás Jerez 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 Lecce can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Jun 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lecce people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2035
The bid was some way short and Lecce did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Lecce
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Tempers go at Lecce
Rafa Llorente 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Simoes and Lecce agree another 5 years.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
“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.
Market18 Jun 2035
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Lecce money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jun 2035
347 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market4 Jun 2035
“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 targets4 Jun 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Adelaide United have done the hard part with Sydney FC, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jun 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Noah James commits to Adelaide United for another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Dylan Pierias and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2035
Adelaide United have made the call to Lecce. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2035
A loan enquiry to Auckland City: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout4 Jun 2035
Dylan Pierias gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dylan Pierias is on it.
The dugout4 Jun 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrew Mitchell trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jun 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lecce is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings4 Jun 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Jun 2035
Thulani Dala 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 Lecce can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jun 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jun 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Jun 2035
Pisa made Lecce work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match2 Jun 2035
Still nobody has beaten Lecce
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Nicola Profeta 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 targets4 Jun 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lazio have kept their man, and Lecce go back to a list with one name crossed off it.