Marked for Luca Trombini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Luca Moro beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Padova
Koni De Winter 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.75, and 2 involvements.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pietro Fusi. 3‑2 against Avellino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Francesco Di Mariano 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Padova leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match20 Nov 2027
At last: Padova win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Avellino. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Emanuele Zuelli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Oct 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Padova can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Padova
Koni De Winter 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Padova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Di Mariano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Oct 2027
Mantova made Padova work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
The afternoon belonged to Luca Moro
A mark of 7.59, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Kevin Varas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Gianluca Santoro, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Oct 2027
6 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianluca Caprari and Padova agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Luca Moro 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 7.47 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Padova had the best player on the pitch.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Pietro Viani makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Luca Trombini
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
A promise honoured at Padova
Something was said to Enrico Silletti and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market26 Jul 2027
Padova say no — this time
The offer from Suduva for Adulai Embaló 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Pro Vercelli pay $490.0K, 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Padova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koni De Winter was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Alexis Ferrante has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Padova
Filippo Sgarbi 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Pietro Fusi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market26 Jul 2027
The Kevin Varas conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ospitaletto will make the call about Kevin Varas this week. Padova have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market26 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Luca Moro’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Shaka Mawuli Eklu damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Lucas Toffoletti: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arezzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Arezzo sell a favourite for $400.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Luca Trombini was one of the reasons people came, and $400.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arezzo have done the hard part with AC Milan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jun 2027
Luca Trombini has left for Padova in a $400.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 25 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Arezzo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Di Chiara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
31 appearances away from home and 14 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fiorentina paid $6.3M and Padova took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$460.0K settles it between the clubs for Adulai Embaló
Virtus Entella have accepted the money. What Padova do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alessandro Dellavalle is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market28 Jun 2027
Padova spend $400.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $400.0K has been paid because Luca Trombini is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $125.1K — a club that wants Andrea Franzolini enough to be asked twice.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Padova
Koni De Winter and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Padova have gone to Potenza with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arezzo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Arezzo and Torres have settled on $830.0K. 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arezzo can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Arezzo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market21 Jun 2027
Artur Ioniţă has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arezzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Arezzo
Leonardo Mancuso 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Arezzo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giacomo Venturi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Arezzo asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Lecce: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jun 2027
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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Padova get their man
The chase for Alexis Ferrante ended with $830.0K changing hands and Ternana out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $102.4K — a club that wants Andrea Franzolini enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Arezzo 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Padova
Gianluca Caprari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrei Racu is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Arezzo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Di Chiara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Alfred Gomis is in the works
Arezzo have made the call to Palermo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Salvatore Elia is in the works
Arezzo have made the call to Cremonese. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Udinese 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Nicolò Gigli gets picked when it counts
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 Nicolò Gigli is on it.
Market7 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pietro Cianci’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout24 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arezzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market24 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arezzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Arezzo
Leonardo Mancuso 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Arezzo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Di Chiara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arezzo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch24 May 2027
35 appearances at Salernitana and the goals keep coming. Arezzo are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout24 May 2027
Samuele Righetti has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Arezzo 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.
Market24 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luca Trombini may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arezzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arezzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 May 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Arezzo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Di Chiara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Arezzo
Suhayb Al Kharusi 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 dugout17 May 2027
Luca Trombini asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad17 May 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Apr 2027
“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 Arezzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arezzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Arezzo
Leonardo Mancuso 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alessandro Renzi and Arezzo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Di Chiara 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Marco Chiosa gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
7 goals in 33 games at Salernitana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arezzo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arezzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 Apr 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Gianluca Di Chiara scored in the 87th minute, Perugia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Arezzo took the lot.
Match3 Apr 2027
The drought breaks for Arezzo
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Perugia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.99, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market5 Apr 2027
Artur Ioniţă hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arezzo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Gianluca Di Chiara 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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; Arezzo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match3 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gianluca Di Chiara. 2‑1 against Perugia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Luca Trombini: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arezzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match19 Dec 2026
Arezzo make home a hard place to visit
11 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Arezzo do not lose
7 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Di Chiara 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Arezzo
Suhayb Al Kharusi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Dec 2026
Arezzo at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 8, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Enrico Troisi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Arezzo
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Pontedera, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Samuele Righetti 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Enrico Troisi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Chiosa
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Pietro Cianci asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Di Chiara 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Mancuso, and the manager let it.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Carlo Fiorini 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Arezzo
Suhayb Al Kharusi 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Enrico Troisi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Arezzo dressing room was either.
Match12 Sep 2026
Arezzo and Ternana cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Ternana came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cristiano Pavone
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arezzo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Aug 2026
Arezzo say no — this time
The offer from Juve Stabia for Gennaro Iaccarino 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Boca Juniors is saying, and nobody at Arezzo is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gianluca Di Chiara 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Arezzo asked and Southampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Lazio: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arezzo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lazio keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Arezzo
Leonardo Mancuso 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Chiosa 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.