“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Salernitana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Portuguesa will make the call about Juan Ignacio Molina this week. Salernitana have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Lescano wants continental football; whether Salernitana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Luca Villa 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kees de Boer 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Salernitana can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Gianluca Longobardi is on it.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gabriele Artistico decided nobody was going anywhere. Catania had no time left to answer.
Luca Villa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kees de Boer 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignazio Rinaldi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Salernitana
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Luca Villa 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 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.
“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.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
89% of the income goes out in wages at Salernitana
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Latina? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 7.74 for the rest of it.
Luca Villa 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ignazio Rinaldi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kees de Boer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Paolo Ghiglione and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eugenio D'Ursi 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Armando Anastasio and Salernitana agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Capuano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Eugenio D'Ursi is on it.
Potenza next, and one man in the Salernitana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejo Sperdutti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
6 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.
Luca Villa 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.
Casertana left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Capuano 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
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 1‑2 Ignazio Rinaldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Salernitana are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
4 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.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Kees de Boer 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Borussia Dortmund have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cavese scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Alberto Grassi's mistake
Transfer targetsA loan move for Haakon Norda is in the works
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.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Gualdi is living that version at Salernitana, and it tends to show in the first month.
Salernitana asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Marco Capuano 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.
“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 Salernitana know it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Facundo Lescano provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antonio Donnarumma 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Kees de Boer 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.
Medeama have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ignazio Rinaldi kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Antonio Donnarumma 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Kees de Boer 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.
Something was said to Antonino La Gumina and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Salernitana will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Salernitana can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kees de Boer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout22 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 Ignazio Rinaldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Marco Capuano 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.
Something was said to Antonio Pio Iervolino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Potenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Salernitana will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 8.24 — 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.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniele Celiento has his answer from Salernitana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo Lescano. 1‑0 against Trapani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Marco Capuano 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ignazio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Donnarumma and Salernitana agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Mattia Vitale 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Facundo Lescano’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Salernitana.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Capuano 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Diego Ftacla 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ignazio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
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.
Trapani next, and one man in the Salernitana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
5 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Lescano wants continental football; whether Salernitana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Marco Capuano 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Lescano wants continental football; whether Salernitana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Salernitana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shrewsbury Town, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Paolo Ghiglione 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.
$130.0K on the table at Sambenedettese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Ftacla 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.
$3.8M settles it between the clubs for Marco Bellich
Juve Stabia have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The chase for Mattia Pagliuca ended with $410.0K changing hands and Virtus Verona out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Antonio Donnarumma 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Ferraris 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester City have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Salernitana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Antonino La Gumina is on it.
Antonio Donnarumma 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 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.
Padova pay $410.0K, 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Salernitana are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$19.0K settles it between the clubs for Diego Ftacla
Bra have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Lescano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Filippo Perucchini has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Salernitana have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Salernitana asked and Bra 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 phone has started ringing about Francesco Gisondi again, and this time the name on the line is Madura United. Salernitana are listening politely and promising nothing.
Salernitana have made the call to Paris Saint-Germain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Luca Villa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Lescano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Salernitana will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Francesco Gisondi has written the date down.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Full confidence, expressed in the dull, deliberate language boards reserve for when they mean it. The window that follows will show whether the words came with money attached.
20 goals in 35 games at Salernitana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Salernitana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Antonio Donnarumma 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 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
Nobody at Salernitana 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.
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.
“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; Salernitana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marco Capuano will call it something else in private.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignazio Rinaldi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Eugenio D'Ursi
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Salernitana have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 21 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Achille Esposito has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Messina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Filippo Amato has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cesare Messina has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Luca Villa 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ignazio Rinaldi after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alejo Sperdutti will call it something else in private.
20 goals in 32 games at Salernitana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Salernitana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Luca Villa 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 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ignazio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Lescano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Latina left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Apr 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ignazio Rinaldi to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Franco Ferrari and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Salernitana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Luca Villa 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 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.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ignazio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
17 goals in 28 games at Salernitana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Salernitana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Luca Villa 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 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Salernitana can tell you which week it ends in.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match13 Mar 2027
After 12 games, Salernitana finally taste it again
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Potenza; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Achille Mariani has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ignazio Pasquali has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ciro Martinelli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alejo Sperdutti has, at Salernitana, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Luca Villa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mattia Vitale 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.
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.
Nobody at Salernitana will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Facundo Lescano’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Salernitana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Villa signs something — a contract at Salernitana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Luca Villa 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ismail Achik has his answer from Salernitana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Jorquera and Salernitana agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Trapani; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Luca Villa 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Kees de Boer'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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Position 3, 54 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
16 goals in 24 games at Salernitana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Salernitana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mattia Vitale 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
23 appearances away from home and 15 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Salernitana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Salernitana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Parma, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
6 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.
13 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Salernitana 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.
Luca Villa 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 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.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with Parma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Position 3, 42 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.59 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mattia Tascone at his very best
3 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.
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.
Position 3, 39 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Salernitana told Mattia Vitale something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Salernitana will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Luca Villa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Vitale was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luca Villa 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: 21. 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Muhamed Varela Djamanca. 1‑0 against Cosenza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ignazio Rinaldi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Casarano had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Luca Villa 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 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.
Benevento next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francesco Gisondi and Salernitana agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Eugenio D'Ursi 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.
Luca Villa 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.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
Marked 8.53 — 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.
Catania next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Vitale was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignazio Rinaldi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Siracusa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Salernitana will enjoy reviewing.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Gisondi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Salernitana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 23 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Antonio Donnarumma: 4 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
1 for Gianluca Longobardi, marked 7.74, 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.
Luca Villa 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 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 Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Potenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salernitana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luca Villa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.47 on the card, and the Salernitana support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ignazio Rinaldi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Luca Villa 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Foggia next, and one man in the Salernitana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
Luca Villa 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 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.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Salernitana scored in the 106th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Luca Villa 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Simone Pieraccini has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ignazio Rinaldi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Luca Villa 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Koper have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Monopoli had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Pieraccini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ignazio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ismail Achik
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Salernitana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
A side in position 17 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Mattia Tascone plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Luca Villa 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Lescano 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.
Luca Villa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Lescano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Monopoli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Francesco Gisondi. The answer from Salernitana has not changed — yet.
Still no offer on the table, and Kees de Boer’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
SquadSalernitana are still strangers to each other