Marked for Teun Koopmeiners
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 Oct 2029
Bragging rights belong to Juventus for another year after a 7‑0 win over Torino in front of a full house.
Squad29 Oct 2029
The match ball belongs to Michael Olise, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
The derby has a name on it: Michael Olise
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Juventus supporters have already started telling it.
Match27 Oct 2029
Nobody wants to play Juventus right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market29 Oct 2029
Only the photograph left for Jérémie Boga
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jérémie Boga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match27 Oct 2029
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Juventus and Torino in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match27 Oct 2029
Juventus make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Michael Olise is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.25 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cosenza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Sep 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Juventus heard it as anything else.
Market10 Sep 2029
The Bologna deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Luciano Gondou reports back to Juventus with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Juventus know it.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Juventus
Teun Koopmeiners and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
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.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giovanni Fabbian, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market23 Jul 2029
The bid was some way short and Juventus did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market23 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Juventus
Teun Koopmeiners and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Too much change too quickly at Juventus
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
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.
Market23 Jul 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Weston McKennie signs something — a contract at Juventus or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
Demba Samb knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Demba Samb trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad23 Jul 2029
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Parma waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Juventus asked and Empoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Jul 2029
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Jul 2029
Fabio Miretti has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market9 Jul 2029
Michael Olise wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Juventus can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Juventus
Anass Salah-Eddine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
“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.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
Antony gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antony is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 2029
44 goals and a season average of 7.66. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Boardroom28 May 2029
Continental nights are coming to Juventus
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Match28 May 2029
Juventus finish in position 2
88 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings28 May 2029
A brace, and Lautaro Martínez takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lautaro Martínez provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 May 2029
Words exchanged at Juventus
Antony and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market28 May 2029
A summer argument in the Juventus goal
16 clean sheets in 36 appearances on loan. Whoever starts the first game of the season will have had to earn it, which is not something anybody at Juventus could say last August.
Match26 May 2029
Lazio made Juventus work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market28 May 2029
Luciano Gondou comes back from a loan that worked
30 appearances and 25 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The dugout28 May 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lautaro Martínez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Cagliari
Gianluca Mancini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cagliari told Oliver Christensen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Matteo Prati makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Riyad Idrissi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cagliari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alessandro Confente is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market2 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cagliari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Looking ahead2 Apr 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Teun Koopmeiners’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cagliari needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
The wait goes on for Cagliari
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.
Match24 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑3 by Bologna, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market26 Feb 2029
“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 Cagliari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Feb 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cagliari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Cagliari
Gianluca Mancini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Riyad Idrissi 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Iván Villar
“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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Teodoro Pavone after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Feb 2029
9 matches without a win for Cagliari
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Cagliari are no longer polite ones.
Market19 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Riyad Idrissi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riyad Idrissi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cagliari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
A defender's goal wins it for Cagliari — 7.64
1 for Teun Koopmeiners, marked 7.64, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market19 Feb 2029
Cagliari say no — this time
The offer from Clermont Foot for Simone Ghidotti 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Match13 Feb 2029
Fiorentina left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Boris Radunović, and the manager let it.
Match17 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cagliari people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cagliari may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
The deal with Palermo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Torres is saying, and nobody at Cagliari is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cagliari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Jan 2029
Whatever happens, Cagliari do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market1 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cagliari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Matteo Prati goes up and wins it — 7.88
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.88 for the rest of it.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cagliari hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adam Obert and Cagliari agree another 5 years.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Cagliari
Gianluca Mancini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market1 Jan 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gennaro Borrelli has his answer from Cagliari; what he does with it is the next window’s story.