Marked for Gabriele Borghi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Gabriele Borghi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 Jun 2028
The name of Demba Thiam has come up in conversations Monza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Monza have gone to Atalanta with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Monza
Matteo Pessina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gustavo Varela and Monza agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Monza asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Monza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Reita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Monza
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Monza
Kevin Martins and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Apr 2028
AS Roma left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match15 Apr 2028
No time for AS Roma to settle
The goal that put AS Roma ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Monza equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Solomon Loubao 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Luca Scalise to a room that had heard them before.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
Aljaž Strajnar’s loan is measured in nothing happening
10 clean sheets from 30 appearances at Kocaelispor. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Adam Bakoune gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Patrick Ciurria: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Aug 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 Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Monza
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Monza asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match21 Aug 2027
Three points for Monza, 2‑0 the final word against Cremonese in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Market23 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabriele Borghi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market23 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Riccardo Farina has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market23 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Baraldi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market23 Aug 2027
One of our own: Mattia Bruno joins the Monza first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mattia Bruno is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.