The Perugia Chronicle
Squad6 Jan 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Antonio Sabbatani
23 goals and a season average of 7.57 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
A brace, and Antonio Sabbatani takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Sabbatani provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad6 Jan 2031
A one-man rearguard from Luca Gemello
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Matteo Polizzi was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Vintage Luigi Canotto — 8.03
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.03, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market6 Jan 2031
Cameron Stones puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
Danilo Bertolini keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Perugia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
The paperwork begins on Federico Matarán
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Perugia have done the hard part with Fiorentina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
Alessandro Scacchetti has agreed to leave Perugia for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
In brief
- Squad A falling-out at Perugia
- Squad A row about effort at Perugia
- Transfer targets Perugia rebuffed over Maxime Sivis