Marked for Alex Ramku
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michele Messina is 16, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets19 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Alex Ramku is 19, and Livorno 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.
Market19 Jul 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout19 Jul 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 Livorno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Jul 2027
Matteo Bachini is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Livorno has been clear about where Matteo Bachini stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
Jurgen Ekkelenkamp has left for Bari in a $8.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Unai Gómez 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Alex Ramku has left for Livorno in a $400.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad19 Jul 2027
At 31 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Udinese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeff Ekhator was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Unai Gómez'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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Udinese are still strangers to each other
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Christian Kabasele has his answer from Udinese; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Udinese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Udinese asked and Parma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market31 Aug 2026
Alex Ramku 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 Udinese can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Unai Gómez scored one and made one — 7.85
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.85, and 2 involvements.
Match29 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Udinese and AS Roma in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match29 Aug 2026
AS Roma left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Udinese
Filip Stojilković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.01 — 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.