Marked for Edoardo Pierozzi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ospitaletto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Benevento is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout19 Jul 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Benevento and Livorno have settled on $280.0K. 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Benevento
Mattia Maita 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Marco Giugliano has left for Vis Pesaro in a $84.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Benevento asked and Hellas Verona 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Kouan, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Hellas Verona 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Benevento have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market12 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
Angers SCO come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Benevento did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Manuel Esposito has left for Sorrento in a $93.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Benevento asked and Bologna 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Benevento are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Davide Lamesta 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
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Cavese, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Torino keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad5 Jul 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Guglielmo Mignani commits to Benevento for another 4 years.
Transfer targets5 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
27 games and 1 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Market5 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Filippo Grilli again, and this time the name on the line is Angers SCO. Benevento are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Fiorentina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Braga, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$2.5M settles it between the clubs for Edoardo Pierozzi
Benevento have accepted the money. What Fiorentina do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market5 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fiorentina have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ospitaletto had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market5 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Fiorentina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Fiorentina heard it as anything else.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lucas Beltrán commits to Fiorentina for another 4 years.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.8M — a club that wants Edoardo Pierozzi enough to be asked twice.
Squad5 Jul 2027
David De Gea in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fiorentina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mattia Mannini is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Edoardo Pierozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Fiorentina 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Antonio Prisco 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 dugout28 Jun 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 Benevento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pietro Saio, and the manager let it.
Market28 Jun 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
The stands have heard the Edoardo Pierozzi talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Benevento would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Viery
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Benevento have done the hard part with Fiorentina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Benevento
Edoardo Pierozzi 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
At 19 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Benevento asked and Torino 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Verdi, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippo Grilli and Benevento agree another 4 years.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Tumminello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
Angelo Talia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Benevento — 7.72
1 for Christian Kouan, marked 7.72, 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.
Match15 May 2027
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Palermo. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad17 May 2027
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Match15 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Palermo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Verdi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout17 May 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout17 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Mauro Mazza could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Benevento
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 May 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Benevento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelo Talia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Angelo Talia, and the manager let it.
Match8 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Pisa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout10 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 Benevento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 2027
Half-satisfied: Mauro Mazza on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings10 May 2027
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
Palermo next, and one man in the Benevento dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 May 2027
The wait goes on for Benevento
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.
Match1 May 2027
The goals have deserted Benevento
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Benevento can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad3 May 2027
Edoardo Pierozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Benevento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelo Talia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Benevento told Marco Tumminello something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch3 May 2027
30 appearances away from home and 9 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market3 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Benevento, another week without a signature from Guglielmo Mignani.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Diego Borghini: 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.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Benevento's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Benevento has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Benevento
Stefano Scognamillo 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
The goals have deserted Benevento
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Benevento can tell you which week it ends in.
Match24 Apr 2027
Avellino left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Giacomo Ricci did the work nobody counts — 6.48
11 combined actions and 6.48. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad26 Apr 2027
100 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mauro Mazza after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Benevento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Prisco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mattia Maita and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Cremonese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Benevento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelo Talia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 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 0‑2 Mauro Mazza left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead12 Apr 2027
Catanzaro next, and one man in the Benevento dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 2027
Benevento say no — this time
The offer from Ekenäs IF for Filippo Grilli 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.
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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Filippo Grilli is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
9 combined actions and 7.34. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
28 appearances at Cosenza and the goals keep coming. Benevento are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Match3 Apr 2027
It needed Marco Tumminello to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Juve Stabia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Mar 2027
Angelo Talia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marco Giugliano is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Benevento
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Angelo Talia 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 Mar 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 Mauro Mazza left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Benevento told Edoardo Pierozzi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Tumminello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonio Prisco, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Edoardo Pierozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Three points for Benevento, 2‑0 the final word against Vicenza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Verdi, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Mauro Mazza kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Tumminello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Padova in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout25 Jan 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Benevento had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Union SG, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Benevento
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Benevento have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout25 Jan 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match25 Jan 2027
The half-term report on Benevento
Position 13, 25 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
Dino Mehic 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 Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Del Gaudio is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Edoardo Pierozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Südtirol made Benevento work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.43, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Mauro Mazza could afford to be generous.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Antonio Prisco 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 Dec 2026
Davide Lamesta knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davide Lamesta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
19 days out for Marco Tumminello after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Benevento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad14 Dec 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings14 Dec 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 Dec 2026
Angelo Talia 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Benevento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Südtirol next, and one man in the Benevento dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davide Lamesta, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pier Luigi Simonetti 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Juve Stabia next, and one man in the Benevento dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leonardo Sernicola signs something — a contract at Benevento or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
9 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad16 Nov 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Benevento the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
65 days out for Marco Tumminello after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Benevento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.68 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Benevento
Edoardo Pierozzi 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 terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattia Mannini 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Francesco Salvemini’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Benevento.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Mattia Maita was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 98% of everything Benevento earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Benevento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelo Talia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Leonardo Sernicola is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Davide Lamesta knocks on the manager's door
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Giacomo Ricci
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Marco Tumminello out for 72 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Benevento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
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 7.84 for the rest of it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Christian Dalle Mura scored, was marked 6.87, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match24 Oct 2026
6 goals in one match, Christian Dalle Mura on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Benevento and Ascoli.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ascoli left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Edoardo Pierozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Ricci, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Benevento
Something was said to Davide Lamesta 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
Squad28 Sep 2026
Stefano Scognamillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Benevento are still strangers to each other
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mauro Mazza was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Benevento dressing room was either.
The dugout28 Sep 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Benevento?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Virtus Entella? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Davide Lamesta has written the date down.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luigi Cherubini. 2‑1 against Carrarese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Luigi Cherubini 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Angelo Talia 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.81 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Benevento had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mauro Mazza on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edoardo Pierozzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Virtus Entella in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Monza 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Angelo Talia 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 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Angelo Talia
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
Davide Lamesta knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davide Lamesta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mauro Mazza was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Benevento dressing room was either.
Match12 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Benevento?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cesena? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Carrarese next, and one man in the Benevento dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
No place in the plan for Simone Verdi
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 5 in, 2 out at Benevento
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The offer went to Monza 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 targets7 Sep 2026
Door shut on Viery
Benevento asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Benevento
Edoardo Pierozzi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pier Luigi Simonetti 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
Davide Lamesta knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davide Lamesta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cesena in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stefano Scognamillo and Benevento agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Stefano Scognamillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Shakhtar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Borussia Dortmund 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Benevento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Raffaele Celia's contract
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.