Marked for Alessandro Longoni
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Feb 2029
There were 11 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 34. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market5 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Lorenco Šimić: 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.” Avellino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Valerio Crespi
16 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Tommaso Biasci 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match3 Feb 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Valerio Crespi. 1‑0 against Frosinone, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Avellino's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avellino has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Roberto Insigne 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.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“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.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.91, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
It needed Francesco Maisto to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Mantova, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad22 Jan 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Alessandro Longoni knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Loan watch22 Jan 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Avellino, and 5 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Dec 2028
The cup run ends for Avellino
2‑2 against Palermo, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market18 Dec 2028
“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 Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Avellino's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avellino has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Dec 2028
Mario Gaspar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avellino they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Armando Izzo
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market11 Dec 2028
“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 Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win for Avellino
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Avellino are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Tommaso Biasci 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francesco Maisto and Avellino agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Dec 2028
81 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch11 Dec 2028
“I watch every Avellino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pergolettese runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Nov 2028
Beaten 1‑4 by Empoli, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market27 Nov 2028
“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 Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match25 Nov 2028
4 matches without a win for Avellino
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Avellino are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Armando Izzo 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“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; Avellino are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Armando Izzo 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
113 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Valerio Crespi
11 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch13 Nov 2028
“I watch every Avellino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pergolettese runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match11 Nov 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market13 Nov 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alessandro Fontanarosa signs something — a contract at Avellino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avellino can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tommaso Biasci 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Oct 2028
A 1‑0 win over Padova, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“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
Uneasy
Market23 Oct 2028
“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 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Oct 2028
28 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market23 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avellino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Mattia Caldara
“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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 8.63 — 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Oct 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Pescara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Oct 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Armando Izzo 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Sep 2028
It finished 4‑3, and it was Valerio Crespi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Avellino.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A performance of 9.89 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Marked 8.30 — 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Cosimo Patierno
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
There were 6 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roberto Insigne, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Marked 7.63 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Avellino had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Sep 2028
Experience through the door at Avellino
Mattia Caldara arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market4 Sep 2028
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Armando Izzo 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Lorenco Šimić, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market21 Aug 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market21 Aug 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market21 Aug 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Avellino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Armando Izzo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Nov 2027
15 matches without a win for Avellino
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Avellino are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Armando Izzo 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Armando Izzo 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Nov 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Alessandro Longoni knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match20 Nov 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Genoa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market22 Nov 2027
The name of Tommaso Biasci keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Avellino say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Luca Pandolfi 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
Match6 Nov 2027
13 matches without a win for Avellino
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Avellino are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Alessandro Longoni: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match3 Nov 2027
Cup progress for Avellino
A 1‑1 win over Alcione Milano, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match8 Nov 2027
Avellino sink to position 20
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market8 Nov 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valerio Crespi and Avellino agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Armando Izzo 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
Lecce left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Oct 2027
9 matches without a win for Avellino
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Avellino are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avellino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Armando Izzo 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match16 Oct 2027
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad18 Oct 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Alessandro Longoni knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad18 Oct 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market4 Oct 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Avellino's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avellino has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Armando Izzo and Avellino agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Armando Izzo 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerio Crespi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Avellino support went home talking about one name.
Match2 Oct 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Bologna came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Avellino
6 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avellino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Avellino against Como
1‑3 to Como, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Cosimo Patierno
“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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
The one thing Alieu Njie could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market27 Sep 2027
The name of Tommaso Biasci keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Avellino say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
5.62 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2027
There were 6 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cosimo Patierno and Avellino agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Armando Izzo 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Sep 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Tommaso Biasci
“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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.73 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avellino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Armando Izzo 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Endy Opoku Bernadina, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mike Maignan 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 AC Milan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Aug 2027
Alessandro Longoni has left for Avellino in a $620.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market9 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Südtirol have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Davide Bartesaghi. The answer from AC Milan has not changed — yet.
Market9 Aug 2027
The Kevin Zeroli conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Rosenborg will make the call about Kevin Zeroli this week. AC Milan have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Milan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tommaso Biasci 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 105 days on the sidelines for Mario Gaspar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market9 Aug 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market9 Aug 2027
Cittadella are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Avellino will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market9 Aug 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marco Sala’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Fikayo Tomori: 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.” AC Milan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and AC Milan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mike Maignan 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 AC Milan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Reggiana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Davide Bartesaghi. The answer from AC Milan has not changed — yet.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
The goals keep arriving from Francesco Camarda’s exile
11 goals in 23 games at Lecce — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AC Milan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Longoni, and the manager let it.