Marked for Stéphane Robert
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Aug 2042
A fracture rules Luca Di Maggio out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fiorentina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Aug 2042
Jamal Iddrissou, 34, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market25 Aug 2042
“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 The request is on a desk at Fiorentina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Aug 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
Market25 Aug 2042
Cagliari come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Fiorentina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom25 Aug 2042
9 academy players handed senior numbers at Fiorentina
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match23 Aug 2042
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Aug 2042
Stéphane Robert has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market25 Aug 2042
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Angelo Bianchi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Aug 2042
A fracture rules Luca Di Maggio out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fiorentina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Aug 2042
Manuel Conti 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 Fiorentina can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Aug 2042
The offer from Mantova for Franco Cattaneo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad18 Aug 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Aug 2042
Only the photograph left for Andrés García
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fiorentina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Aug 2042
Cher Ndour has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
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Market
Palermo are about to pick up the phone
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Aug 2042
A fracture rules Luca Di Maggio out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fiorentina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Aug 2042
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fiorentina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Aug 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
Market11 Aug 2042
The phone has started ringing about Federico Martini again, and this time the name on the line is Palermo. Fiorentina are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad11 Aug 2042
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davide Santoro and Fiorentina agree another 3 years.
Market11 Aug 2042
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Fiorentina will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Aug 2042
A fracture rules Luca Di Maggio out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fiorentina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Aug 2042
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Aug 2042
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Aug 2042
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Christian Melai has agreed terms with Udinese for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market4 Aug 2042
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Fiorentina will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad4 Aug 2042
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jul 2042
Luca Di Maggio breaks a bone — 102 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jul 2042
The offer from Sampdoria for Gioele Giammattei was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad28 Jul 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jul 2042
Luca Di Maggio breaks a bone — 109 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Jul 2042
The offer from Palermo for Stéphane Robert was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market21 Jul 2042
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Jul 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jul 2042
The name of Gioele Giammattei has come up in conversations Fiorentina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market21 Jul 2042
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fiorentina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jul 2042
Luca Di Maggio breaks a bone — 116 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jul 2042
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fiorentina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jul 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
Squad14 Jul 2042
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. John Stewart is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jul 2042
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luis Balbo Vieira and Fiorentina agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market14 Jul 2042
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fiorentina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jul 2042
406 appearances across 15 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Fiorentina know what they have.
Market7 Jul 2042
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Jul 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jul 2042
Juventus pay $1.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market7 Jul 2042
The name of Federico Martini has come up in conversations Fiorentina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Jul 2042
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Robert is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Jun 2042
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad30 Jun 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
Market30 Jun 2042
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Martini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fiorentina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Jun 2042
The name of Emanuele De Luca has come up in conversations Fiorentina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad30 Jun 2042
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad30 Jun 2042
Stéphane Robert 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jun 2042
Davide Fabbri: 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.” Fiorentina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Jun 2042
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market23 Jun 2042
Manuel Conti 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 Fiorentina can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jun 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Jun 2042
Andrés García has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fiorentina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom23 Jun 2042
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Jun 2042
“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 Fiorentina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Jun 2042
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Jun 2042
Stefano Di Mario 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.
Market16 Jun 2042
Palermo are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Fiorentina will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad16 Jun 2042
When it matters, Cher Ndour plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad16 Jun 2042
Stéphane Robert 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 May 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 May 2042
The manager makes an example of Ivan Sorokin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad26 May 2042
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Loan watch26 May 2042
“I watch every Fiorentina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Giana Erminio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad26 May 2042
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Robert is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market26 May 2042
Cher Ndour linked with a move away
The name of Cher Ndour keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Fiorentina say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 May 2042
Nicolò Giuliani: 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.” Fiorentina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 May 2042
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 May 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
Squad19 May 2042
Gustavo Varela has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch19 May 2042
“I watch every Fiorentina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ternana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad19 May 2042
Stéphane Robert 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Feb 2042
Cher Ndour 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.
Match22 Feb 2042
No clean sheets in sight for Fiorentina
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Boardroom24 Feb 2042
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad24 Feb 2042
Niccolò Fortini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch24 Feb 2042
“I watch every Fiorentina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ternana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad24 Feb 2042
Stéphane Robert 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.
Market24 Feb 2042
The Cher Ndour talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fiorentina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad24 Feb 2042
A new system beds in at Fiorentina
4 games now in a shape the manager was not using a month ago. Changing a formation is easy and keeping one is not, which is why the second of those is the part that tells you something.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Feb 2042
A knee injury of the worst kind for Pierpaolo Marino
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fiorentina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 Feb 2042
68 appearances across 17 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Fiorentina know what they have.
Player ratings3 Feb 2042
Age has not caught Gustavo Varela yet — 8.26
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.26 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 Feb 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Feb 2042
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippo Rinaldi and Fiorentina agree another 2 years.
Match1 Feb 2042
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gioele Giammattei. 4‑2 against Cagliari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Loan watch3 Feb 2042
“I did not go to Union Brescia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fiorentina and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
Market3 Feb 2042
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Fiorentina will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Jan 2042
There were 6 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.
Market20 Jan 2042
“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 Fiorentina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Jan 2042
Andrés García has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fiorentina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Jan 2042
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Jan 2042
0‑2 to Genoa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Jan 2042
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Loan watch20 Jan 2042
“I did not go to Padova to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fiorentina and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 31 matches say the rest.
Squad20 Jan 2042
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Robert is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market20 Jan 2042
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Cher Ndour’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Dec 2041
Age has not caught Gustavo Varela yet — 7.99
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad30 Dec 2041
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Dec 2041
Three points for Fiorentina, 2‑0 the final word against Parma in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Dec 2041
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Loan watch30 Dec 2041
“I did not go to Union Brescia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fiorentina and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.
Squad30 Dec 2041
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Robert is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market30 Dec 2041
The name of Tommaso Rubino keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Fiorentina say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad30 Dec 2041
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings30 Dec 2041
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Dec 2041
There were 10 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.
Market23 Dec 2041
Manuel Conti 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 Fiorentina can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Dec 2041
Up for the corner, and Sascha Britschgi delivers — 7.76
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sascha Britschgi scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad23 Dec 2041
Cher Ndour 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.
Match21 Dec 2041
Sascha Britschgi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Udinese, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad23 Dec 2041
Gustavo Varela has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch23 Dec 2041
“I did not go to Padova to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fiorentina and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 27 matches say the rest.
Squad23 Dec 2041
Stéphane Robert 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.
Market23 Dec 2041
The Cher Ndour story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cher Ndour signs something — a contract at Fiorentina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Dec 2041
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Dec 2041
Cher Ndour 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.
Loan watch9 Dec 2041
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Fiorentina, and 3 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Match7 Dec 2041
AS Roma left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Dec 2041
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davide Fabbri and Fiorentina agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Dec 2041
Stéphane Robert 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Dec 2041
451 appearances across 13 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Fiorentina know what they have.
Player ratings2 Dec 2041
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad2 Dec 2041
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Nov 2041
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefano Di Mario. 2‑1 against Avellino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Loan watch2 Dec 2041
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Fiorentina, and 0 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings2 Dec 2041
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Dec 2041
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad2 Dec 2041
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Robert is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market2 Dec 2041
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viery’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Oct 2041
Cher Ndour 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 Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Oct 2041
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fiorentina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Oct 2041
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antonino Viola commits to Fiorentina for another 2 years.
Player ratings21 Oct 2041
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad21 Oct 2041
Cher Ndour has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch21 Oct 2041
“I did not go to Giana Erminio to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fiorentina and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad21 Oct 2041
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Robert is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings21 Oct 2041
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market21 Oct 2041
Viery linked with a move away
The name of Viery keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Fiorentina say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Sep 2041
Chastening afternoon for Fiorentina
A 0‑3 beating by Atalanta was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad30 Sep 2041
Cher Ndour 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.
Match28 Sep 2041
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad30 Sep 2041
Stéphane Robert has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad30 Sep 2041
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Pugliese and Fiorentina agree another 5 years.
Squad30 Sep 2041
Gustavo Varela has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch30 Sep 2041
“I watch every Fiorentina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Padova runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings30 Sep 2041
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market30 Sep 2041
The Cher Ndour story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cher Ndour signs something — a contract at Fiorentina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Sep 2041
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad2 Sep 2041
Cher Ndour 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.
Squad2 Sep 2041
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stefano Di Mario commits to Fiorentina for another 2 years.
Squad2 Sep 2041
“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.
Match31 Aug 2041
0‑1 to Juve Stabia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Sep 2041
Stéphane Robert has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings2 Sep 2041
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom2 Sep 2041
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Loan watch2 Sep 2041
“I watch every Fiorentina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Padova runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Aug 2041
“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 Fiorentina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Aug 2041
Cher Ndour 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 Aug 2041
The offer from Picerno for Andrea Russo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market19 Aug 2041
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Gisondi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fiorentina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market19 Aug 2041
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Fiorentina will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad19 Aug 2041
When it matters, Cher Ndour plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jul 2041
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Jul 2041
Cher Ndour 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.
Market8 Jul 2041
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market8 Jul 2041
Sassuolo come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Fiorentina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Jul 2041
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippo Rinaldi and Fiorentina agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Jul 2041
At 26 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Mar 2041
Cher Ndour 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.
Match23 Mar 2041
No end in sight to Fiorentina's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fiorentina has to find a result from somewhere.
Match23 Mar 2041
Ivan Sorokin scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Modena, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom25 Mar 2041
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad25 Mar 2041
When it matters, Cher Ndour plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad25 Mar 2041
The team sheet said everything about Gioele Giammattei
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Gioele Giammattei.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Dec 2040
Up for the corner, and Niccolò Fortini delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Niccolò Fortini scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad31 Dec 2040
Cher Ndour 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.
Match29 Dec 2040
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom31 Dec 2040
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings31 Dec 2040
Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad31 Dec 2040
Gustavo Varela has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fiorentina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market31 Dec 2040
The Cher Ndour story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cher Ndour signs something — a contract at Fiorentina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad31 Dec 2040
Stéphane Robert 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.
Player ratings31 Dec 2040
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.