Marked for Valentin Bondarenko
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at Pisa, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
Market2 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Pisa
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pisa is running low.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Pisa spell it out for the manager
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. the manager has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emre Ünüvar is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jun 2029
Pisa sink to position 19
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Alieu Njie in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Jun 2029
The shirt still fits. Matteo Luppichini is back at Pisa, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Matteo Luppichini arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matteo Luppichini has, at Pisa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Jacobo Ramón knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacobo Ramón trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Supporters organise against the Pisa board
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.
Market18 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The paperwork begins on Rok Bržan
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pisa have done the hard part with Ascoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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 targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Pisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Pisa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Coppola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jun 2029
Alieu Njie 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 Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arturo Calabresi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
$55.0K settles it between the clubs for Daniele Borra
Südtirol have accepted the money. What Pisa do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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 targets11 Jun 2029
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Pisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Coppola 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.
Market11 Jun 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mateus Lusuardi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Pisa.
Squad11 Jun 2029
7 new faces, and Pisa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Pisa hand the job to the manager
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market4 Jun 2029
Add another name to the list: Vicenza have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ichem Ferrah. The answer from Pisa has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle United have kept their man, and Pisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Emre Ünüvar is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Pisa will try not to make too much of it.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Pisa training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Stefano Moreo
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The dugout
A clean slate for Mattéo Tramoni
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 May 2029
Pisa are in real trouble now
Position 19, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad28 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 May 2029
“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 Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 May 2029
Tempers go at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Pisa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nuno Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 May 2029
42 games, 15 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Pisa now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad28 May 2029
“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 Pisa know it.
The dugout28 May 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout28 May 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 May 2029
The mood at Pisa has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad21 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 May 2029
Stefano Moreo 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 Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2029
Alieu Njie in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Nuno Santos 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.
Squad21 May 2029
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout21 May 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout21 May 2029
Alieu Njie 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 May 2029
At last: Pisa win one
40 matches without a win, and then this, against Bologna. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match12 May 2029
No mercy from Pisa
Bologna will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Pisa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match14 May 2029
The season ends: position 19 for Pisa
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 14 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad14 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A brace, and Alieu Njie takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alieu Njie provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market14 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 May 2029
A falling-out at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A defender's afternoon for Jacobo Ramón
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Pisa
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Boardroom
Still no name above the door at Pisa
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Loan watch
The goals keep arriving from Andrea Petagna’s exile
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 May 2029
40 matches without a win for Pisa
The run now stands at 40, and the questions being asked around Pisa are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Pisa have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Market7 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Nuno Santos
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nuno Santos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 May 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad7 May 2029
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market7 May 2029
Mattia Sala 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 Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
Words exchanged at Pisa
Alieu Njie 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Pisa's wait for a win
39 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pisa has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Apr 2029
Pisa are in real trouble now
Position 20, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
Pressure builds in the Pisa boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market30 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Pisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nuno Santos 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.
Loan watch30 Apr 2029
38 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Match28 Apr 2029
A point taken on 93 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Apr 2029
The wait goes on for Pisa
38 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.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Anger at Pisa spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad23 Apr 2029
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market23 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Ichem Ferrah
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ichem Ferrah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Pisa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alieu Njie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Apr 2029
Mattéo Tramoni scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Inter, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Apr 2029
The wait goes on for Pisa
37 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arturo Calabresi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pisa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Alieu Njie 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.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Mattéo Tramoni was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Apr 2029
The wait goes on for Pisa
36 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match7 Apr 2029
Pisa taken apart
0‑3 to Napoli, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Nuno Santos 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Mar 2029
No end in sight to Pisa's wait for a win
35 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pisa has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Pressure builds in the Pisa boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match2 Apr 2029
Pisa sink to position 19
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match31 Mar 2029
Chastening afternoon for Pisa
A 1‑4 beating by Torino was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Alieu Njie 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.
In brief
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Squad
A falling-out at Pisa
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The dugout
No hiding place for Arturo Calabresi
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Pisa dressing room in a hurry
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2029
The wait goes on for Pisa
28 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Feb 2029
Ichem Ferrah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Daniele Liotti: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Feb 2029
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Valentin Bondarenko is living that version at Pisa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Pisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alieu Njie 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.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
Still no name above the door at Pisa
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and Pisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.