Marked for Andrea Smeraldi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foggia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad22 Feb 2027
17 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 Feb 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Benevento leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Pietro Alberti chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrea Smeraldi
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Foggia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Foggia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Giuseppe Panico
16 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
500 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.
Looking ahead15 Feb 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Foggia
Benevento next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout15 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foggia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Federico Valietti has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Valietti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Foggia, 1‑0 the final word against Latina in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Looking ahead8 Feb 2027
The big one: Catania come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Foggia will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo 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 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamza Haoudi and Foggia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrea Smeraldi
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Foggia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Foggia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Foggia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Foggia 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Viery is a medical away from Foggia
The deal with Fiorentina 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Marco Oliva
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Oliva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Foggia
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Foggia asked and Como said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 46. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrea Smeraldi
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Foggia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Jan 2027
Foggia are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 41 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Orazio Pazienza has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Foggia
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santos have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Gallo, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Atalanta 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Sassuolo 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.