Marked for Benjamín Morales
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reggiana have kept their man, and Genoa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $975.0K of what Genoa paid for Ivan Provedel is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Genoa can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Jul 2029
The name of Kenneth Taylor has come up in conversations Genoa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market2 Jul 2029
Genoa get their man
The chase for Riccardo Capellini ended with $2.8M changing hands and Pescara out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market2 Jul 2029
Agustín Álvarez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Genoa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Genoa
Pierre Kalulu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leo Østigård and Genoa agree another 4 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Genoa know it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Apr 2029
Genoa taken apart
1‑4 to Atalanta, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Genoa can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Ivan Provedel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Provedel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Genoa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Everybody at Genoa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Seydou Fini 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 Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Ninety minutes of Kenneth Taylor at his very best
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Genoa.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Genoa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout30 Apr 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.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
Doors closed at Genoa
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
Steady
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Genoa can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Ivan Provedel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Provedel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Genoa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Provedel, and the manager let it.
Match3 Mar 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Genoa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Antonio Arena is the month’s best young player
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Genoa will try not to make too much of it.