Marked for Davide Merelli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Crotone lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Feb 2027
50 days out for Andrea Rispoli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Crotone will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.77, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Antonino Musso
16 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match13 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Crotone's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Crotone has to find a result from somewhere.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from Antonio Energe’s exile
17 goals in 23 games at Cosenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Crotone updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Crotone
Matteo Maggio 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Crotone asked and Frosinone said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.94, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
24 days out for Enrico Brignola after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Crotone will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Dec 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Crotone
Matteo Maggio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filippo Groppelli and Crotone agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Antonio Energe’s exile
14 goals in 16 games at Cosenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Crotone updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout28 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Crotone rescue it on 91 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Sorrento had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Ravenna to sit and watch. I want to come back to Crotone and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Enrico Brignola out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Crotone will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Bogdan Stăuciuc: 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.” Crotone have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 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 Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Catania left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Armini, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Andreoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Crotone take on the side everybody is chasing
Benevento arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Enrico Brignola out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Crotone will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“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 Crotone, and 4 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Davide Merelli
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Davide Merelli has come out of that comparison in the side, and Crotone have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicola De Santis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match31 Oct 2026
Crotone and Latina cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Latina came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 12, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Nicolò Armini
Nobody at Crotone is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Federico Troiano damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Enrico Brignola out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Crotone will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.19 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Crotone
Matteo Maggio 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 terraces26 Oct 2026
At 20 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Marco Zunno’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Crotone.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Zak Ruggiero 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nicola De Santis on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Kevin Bruno, 21, steals the show — 7.73
Marked 7.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Crotone
Matteo Maggio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nicolò Armini 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 dugout5 Oct 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 100% of everything Crotone earn
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Potenza leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
146 days out for Enrico Brignola after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Crotone will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.79, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Kevin Barcella, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Crotone 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Crotone
Matteo Maggio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Crotone have gone to Latina with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Crotone 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Davide Merelli
“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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Crotone ran out of time with Venezia. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Walter Guerra and Crotone agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Crotone
Matteo Maggio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Crotone asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolò Armini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Davide Merelli's contract
36 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Crotone 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.