$16.3M settles it between the clubs for Massimo Zilli
Spezia have accepted the money. What Cagliari do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$36.5M on the table at Empoli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cagliari can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Matteo Prati was one of the reasons people came, and $18.0M does not replace that by itself.
Cagliari offered $160.0K; Modena said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cagliari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Add another name to the list: AZ have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sebastiano Esposito. The answer from Cagliari has not changed — yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cagliari have done the hard part with Napoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$430.0K on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Riyad Idrissi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AC Milan have kept their man, and Cagliari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Cagliari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zé Pedro 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.
“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.
Mateusz Wieteska 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cagliari told Edon Zhegrova something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sebastiano Esposito has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cagliari have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Valentino Villa could afford to be generous.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alessandro Deiola has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolò Cavuoti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cagliari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alisson Santos 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A 1‑1 draw with Parma leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentino Villa chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Costa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateusz Lesiewicz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cagliari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I watch every Cagliari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sassuolo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Elia Caprile trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valentino Villa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Cagliari dressing room was either.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Cagliari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Costa 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cagliari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bruno Salgado is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Loris Davide Capodieci and Cagliari agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Cagliari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Costa 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.
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 Alessandro Deiola is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMattia Felici knocks on the manager's door
11 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.
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.
Alisson Santos 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 phone has started ringing about Nicolò Cavuoti again, and this time the name on the line is Alcione Milano. Cagliari are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cagliari asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cagliari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The fee is $2.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Pescara drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Alisson Santos 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catanzaro have kept their man, and Cagliari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 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.
“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.
The name of Elia Caprile has come up in conversations Cagliari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cagliari heard it as anything else.
Cagliari asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Zé Pedro 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Velizar-Iliya Iliev and Cagliari agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout1 Nov 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 0‑1 Valentino Villa left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Zito Luvumbo is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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.
Alisson Santos 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.
Marked 7.35 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riyad Idrissi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Valentino Villa to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Mattia Felici and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cagliari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Virtus Entella pay $3.5M, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Maldini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The offer from Middlesbrough for Yerry Mina 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cagliari can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Maldini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventus have kept their man, and Cagliari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Zé Pedro has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Something was said to Elia Caprile and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Alberto Dossena 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Valentino Villa to a room that had heard them before.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Moreira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Winterthur had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cagliari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Udinese paid $11.0M and Cagliari took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Cagliari until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cagliari heard it as anything else.
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.
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.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cagliari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Cagliari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Cagliari asked and Ravenna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑3 against Fiorentina, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Maldini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
29 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Valentino Villa on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Maldini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrea Belotti 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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Deiola trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Deiola’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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Maldini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. M'Bala Nzola is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cagliari told Gennaro Borrelli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentino Villa chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
That is the business done at Cagliari until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer went to Udinese this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Maldini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Cagliari are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Alieu Fadera is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cagliari, another week without a signature from Adam Obert.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Semih Kılıçsoy has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Deiola’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.
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 Gennaro Borrelli has written the date down.
Marked 6.89 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valentino Villa after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Cagliari would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Cagliari that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.