Marked for Stefan Gartenmann
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Sampdoria's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sampdoria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market1 Feb 2027
Gaëtan Coucke 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Sampdoria close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Venezia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Fabio Depaoli 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Sampdoria asked and Pro Vercelli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sampdoria have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Sampdoria
8 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AlbinoLeffe waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jan 2027
Torino pay $6.3M, 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mattia Viti 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Sampdoria
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match16 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Empoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Sampdoria
A 0‑5 beating by Modena was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match11 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Sampdoria
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match9 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Sampdoria
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sampdoria are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Elche, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Sampdoria asked and Parma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Sampdoria dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
A promise honoured at Sampdoria
Something was said to Lorenzo Insigne and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑5 Gregorio Landi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Beaten 5 times, 1 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Sampdoria's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sampdoria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Fabio Depaoli 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peter Vindahl, and the manager let it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: AlbinoLeffe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Stefan Gartenmann. The answer from Sampdoria has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Jan 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Match4 Jan 2027
The half-term report on Sampdoria
Position 17, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Mattia Viti
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sampdoria had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Patrick Ouotro is in the works
Sampdoria have made the call to Vitoria Guimaraes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Sampdoria have made the call to Elche. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefan Gartenmann will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Palermo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tommaso Martinelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Gregorio Landi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Spezia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Peter Vindahl has written the date down.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sampdoria
Position 18 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market16 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefan Gartenmann will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Michael Fosu
“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.
Market16 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Fabio Depaoli has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Sampdoria.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Michael Fosu: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sampdoria will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sampdoria, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gregorio Landi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Sampdoria dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Michael Fosu 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Michael Fosu: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sampdoria will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gregorio Landi was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Sampdoria dressing room was either.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Sampdoria have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Sampdoria
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sampdoria are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Sampdoria against Bari
0‑2 to Bari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market21 Sep 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sampdoria has been clear about where Alessandro Riccio stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Manuel Cicconi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sampdoria, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Martin Dimitrov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sampdoria people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 7 in, 2 out at Sampdoria
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Sampdoria asked and Progreso said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
Empoli left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Tjaš Begić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.