Rafael Melo

Striker - Torino
7 Sep 2026
Monday
Process

Marked for Rafael Melo

5 Edition

The Torino Post

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Nikola Vlašić puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Torino, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Pergolettese come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Torino did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Che Adams 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 Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Eyes on Rafael Melo again

The phone has started ringing about Rafael Melo again, and this time the name on the line is AlbinoLeffe. Torino are listening politely and promising nothing.

Player ratings

Nikola Vlašić runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

No hiding place for Franco Israel

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Israel, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

One of those days for Saúl Coco

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Duván Zapata in the eights

A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Duván Zapata rescues a point for Torino

It needed Duván Zapata to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Atalanta, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

Back issues
4 Edition

The Torino Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Franco Israel

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Bologna come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Torino did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Torino

Che Adams 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.

Match

Torino come up short against Cagliari

Cagliari left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Nikola Vlašić

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Saúl Coco in the eights

A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Torino count the cost of losing Sandro Nascimento

14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Duván Zapata

“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.

Market

Potenza expected to open talks for Rafael Melo

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Torino will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

In brief