Marked for Pasquale Piscitelli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabriel Pellegrino is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with KAA Gent, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 21, Anas Alaoui is already the best thing here
An average of 7.18 in a first team he is several years too young for. Lecco have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Lecco
Guillaume Furrer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets9 Aug 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Pasquale Piscitelli is 19, and Lecco have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Anas Alaoui 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 Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guillaume Furrer signs something — a contract at Lecco or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Monza heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Monza
Demba Thiam 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 Aug 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Monza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Lecco pay $160.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Demba Thiam
“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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
Market9 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Exequiel Zeballos signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Monza; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
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Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Lecco
Anas Alaoui 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
At 34 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
The town asked, and Lecco paid $660.0K
Ridgeciano Haps was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $660.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Guillaume Furrer 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 targets2 Aug 2027
Lecco asked and Chesterfield said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Lecco will not keep him by pretending otherwise.