Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Pro Vercelli spent the window trying to move Stefano Marchetti on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Gianmario Comi
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
He is 18, and nobody at Pro Vercelli signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Armando Iuliano is 19, and Pro Vercelli have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Gianmario Comi keeps the shirt for now, at Pro Vercelli's convenience rather than his own.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pro Vercelli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pro Vercelli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Vercelli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Gianmario Comi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
87% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Vercelli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Alessandro Livieri knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
A season average of 7.30 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pro Vercelli know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianmario Comi and Pro Vercelli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He is 20, and nobody at Pro Vercelli signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pro Vercelli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The name of Lorenzo Lancellotti has come up in conversations Pro Vercelli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
145% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Vercelli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Pro Vercelli are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
332% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Vercelli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Vercelli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pro Vercelli know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Umberto Galletta, 20 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Arsenio Valpoort is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
A new face in his position, and Gianmario Comi suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Pro Vercelli have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The name of Jean-Guy Akpa Akpro has come up in conversations Pro Vercelli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.