Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Virtus Verona 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 Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheikh Sibi signs something — a contract at Virtus Verona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
David Chigwada is 19, and Virtus Verona have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Forli will make the call about Mattia Pagliuca this week. Virtus Verona have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It needed Iacopo Cernigoi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Pro Vercelli, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Toffanin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheikh Sibi signs something — a contract at Virtus Verona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Michael Fabbro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
37 years old, every age group at this club behind him, and a borrowed player of much the same standard in front of him every Saturday. The parents in the stand have noticed, and so has every kid below him.
Manuel Daffara 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vicenza? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Sheikh Sibi knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Manuel Daffara 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Virtus Verona has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Nicola Patanè 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Virtus Verona have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Virtus Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Federico Fanini reports back to Virtus Verona with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nicola Patanè was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheikh Sibi signs something — a contract at Virtus Verona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael De Marchi and Virtus Verona agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Manuel Daffara 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.
Add another name to the list: Novara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Samuele Lerco. The answer from Virtus Verona has not changed — yet.
Still no offer on the table, and Sheikh Sibi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.