The Mantova Herald
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$81.0K settles it between the clubs for Salvatore Caturano
Catania have accepted the money. What Mantova do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The step up is real for Kerim Alajbegović
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Late improvement for Fahem Benaïssa
At 25 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Melivilo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Mantova rebuffed over Paolo Rrapaj
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ravenna have kept their man, and Mantova go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Francesco Ruocco 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 Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Aug 2027
The Ettore Gliozzi story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ettore Gliozzi signs something — a contract at Mantova or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Francesco Ruocco has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Francesco Ruocco has written the date down.
Market16 Aug 2027
Edoardo Biffi leaves for nothing
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Edoardo Biffi leaves Mantova the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
In brief
- Market Mattia Bellini leaves for nothing
- The dugout The manager comes out for Nicolò Radaelli
- Match Nothing left to play for but pride at Mantova