Marked for Fiorello Allushi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Laçi
Kristi Qose 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 targets14 Aug 2028
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Florian Kamberi 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 targets14 Aug 2028
A loan enquiry to Dolomiti Bellunesi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market14 Aug 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Laçi signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
Eridon Qardaku 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 Laçi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Aug 2028
The Ardit Hoxhaj story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ardit Hoxhaj signs something — a contract at Laçi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
Nobody at Laçi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market14 Aug 2028
Laçi have made Arlind Kurti available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with ESTAC Troyes, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Gubbio wanted more than $950.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Foggia asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Foggia
Lautaro Llarín and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Sarmiento 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Giuseppe Panico’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“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.
Market24 Jul 2028
Foggia have made Fabrizio Bagheria available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market24 Jul 2028
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Freddie Ladapo leaves Foggia the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Foggia and Virtus Entella have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market12 Jun 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 Foggia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Hamza Haoudi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Foggia is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Freddie Ladapo, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Foggia
Fiorello Allushi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Bologna 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Foggia, another week without a signature from Mamadou Coulibaly.
Squad12 Jun 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Foggia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
Christian Tommasini 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vincenzo Garofalo, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gianmarco Todisco is on it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Market24 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Zuccon signs something — a contract at Foggia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Francisco Lara 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 Foggia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market24 Apr 2028
The clock does Freddie Ladapo’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Foggia could ask drops and the wages Freddie Ladapo can ask rise.
Market24 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Hamza Haoudi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jan 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 Foggia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Foggia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Tommasini 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.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Foggia asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Jan 2028
Catania left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Riccardo Brosco
“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 dugout24 Jan 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Looking ahead24 Jan 2028
Foggia take on the side everybody is chasing
Salernitana arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jan 2028
25 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.
Market3 Jan 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Foggia's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Foggia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Jan 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Foggia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Luca Nocerino has come up in conversations Foggia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match1 Jan 2028
Audace Cerignola left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Tommasini 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.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
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.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Simone Castelli left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ledesma
74 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.
Squad15 Nov 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 Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Nov 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout15 Nov 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 Foggia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabrizio Bagheria, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Crotone in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market15 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Zuccon signs something — a contract at Foggia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A wage question at Foggia
Quentin Daubin has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
88 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 ratings1 Nov 2027
A brace, and Christian Tommasini takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christian Tommasini provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Maxime Giron, 33, rolls back the years — 7.81
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Christian Tommasini 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
A 2‑0 win over Picerno, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Nov 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 Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Simone Castelli could afford to be generous.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gianmarco Todisco is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market20 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 Foggia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Foggia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match18 Sep 2027
Foggia make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Foggia have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Christian Tommasini 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 targets20 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match18 Sep 2027
Foggia get the job done against Cavese
A 2‑0 win over Cavese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Riccardo Brosco
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Too much change too quickly at Foggia
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Foggia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Christian Tommasini 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.
The dugout16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Foggia
Eric Biasiol 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
A wage question at Foggia
Gianmarco Todisco has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market16 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foggia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luigi Mormile
36 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.
Market12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 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 Foggia can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
Mantova come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Foggia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jul 2027
Padova pay $930.0K, 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Oliva and Foggia agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Utrecht: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Felice D'Amico's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Luigi Mormile damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Jul 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 Foggia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2027
David Vicari 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. David Vicari has, at Foggia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Foggia have done the hard part with Parma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Marco Bevilacqua has come up in conversations Foggia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Tommasini 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Foggia asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Foggia
David Vicari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.