Marked for Simone Giordano
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Rareş Ilie
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Maj Blažič is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Ignacchiti 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Rareş Ilie
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Cesena made Empoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Simone Giordano would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simone Giordano is living that version at Empoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Empoli
Antonio Candela 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Fulignati 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A new face in his position, and Matteo Lovato suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Empoli have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market17 Aug 2026
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Simone Giordano arrives at Empoli with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Meroni and Mantova agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andrea Meroni 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Andrea Meroni's contract
49 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mantova, another week without a signature from Nicolò Radaelli.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Wieser 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A wage question at Mantova
Francesco Bardi has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.