The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Álvaro Carreras and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Juventus 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Camarda signs something — a contract at Juventus or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
7 goals in 30 games at Lazio — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Juventus updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
7 goals in 30 games at Udinese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Juventus updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Ngal'Ayel Mukau has written the date down.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dijon had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Coppola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AC Milan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Milan can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AC Milan heard it as anything else.
AC Milan offered $210.0K; Atalanta 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.
Giacomo De Pieri 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventus have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dayann Methalie 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.
Nobody at Juventus 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Senny Mayulu signs something — a contract at Juventus or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Francesco Camarda’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Juventus needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juventus, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Martin Baturina’s exile
Successful dribbles: 37. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dayann Methalie 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.
“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; Juventus are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Juventus will be judged on one thing only.
Nobody at Juventus 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.
In brief
The dugoutLuís Henrique dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Pietro Bruno on the draw
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Álvaro Carreras 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Mattia Liberali was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Dayann Methalie 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 name of Ibrahim Sulemana has come up in conversations Juventus were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
Boardroom7 academy players handed senior numbers at Juventus
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spezia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Juventus can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
13 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.
Nobody at Juventus 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.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juventus 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Juventus and Athletic Bilbao have settled on $23.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Lorient waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dayann Methalie 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Juventus are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Palmeiras did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $43.6M for Ngal'Ayel Mukau, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Juventus asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ngal'Ayel Mukau has, at Juventus, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer from Spezia for Daniel Maldini 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.
Ryan Gravenberch 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Juventus will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Juventus have gone to Manchester City 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Juventus have done the hard part with Napoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to AC Milan 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cesare Casadei will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dayann Methalie 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.
Nobody at Juventus 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Palermo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spezia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Spezia go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Spezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spezia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fikayo Tomori 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.
Spezia offered $590.0K; Lazio 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rasmus Wikström was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juventus and AC Milan have settled on $46.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Napoli paid $44.4M and Juventus took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Juventus asked and Napoli 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Lazio is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Juventus have gone to Lazio 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.
With 12 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Juventus heard it as anything else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Frosinone; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Juventus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ryan Gravenberch provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 7.97 for the rest of it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Juventus and Parma, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
27 goals and a season average of 7.44. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
A brace, and Álex Baena takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álex Baena provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
A brace, and Senny Mayulu takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Senny Mayulu provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mads Mikkelsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nehemías Zubiaurre is living that version at Empoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
$930.0K was the most the club would pay and Juventus were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Santino Giletti 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 Celías Ingenthron was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Juventus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Genoa moved on, Martin Baturina reports back to Juventus, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
The offer from Empoli for Edoardo Corvi 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.
Dayann Methalie 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Senny Mayulu. 2‑0 against Fiorentina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have shaken hands with Palermo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mads Mikkelsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Fodé Camara has just signed for Empoli, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Empoli know it.
Santino Giletti 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 Enzo Abondetto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Empoli asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Juventus have paid $21.9M for Dayann Methalie, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The fee is $24.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Napoli drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juventus will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
10 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventus will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Yusi 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 words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
33 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings4 Dec 2034
A brace, and Álex Baena takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álex Baena provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Michael Kayode 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 words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gonçalo Ramos obliged against Pergolettese. 5‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Juventus.
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.55 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Maldini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
14 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventus have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Maldini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Michael Kayode 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.
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against AS Roma; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marvin Keller