Marked for Ebrima Darboe
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Fernando Alarcón out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fiorentina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market12 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market12 Jun 2028
Fiorentina pay $1.5M, 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bari have done the hard part with Juventus, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Hellas Verona paid $220.0K and Bari took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Bari asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The offer went to Galatasaray 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Dodo moves on
Corinthians pay $32.3M, 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Cesena come back empty-handed
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bari had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Supporters turn on the $32.3M sale of Dodo
He is going to Corinthians, the club has $32.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ebrima Darboe gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ebrima Darboe has just signed for Fiorentina, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Jun 2028
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
Upbeat
Squad5 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jun 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Hernâni is a medical away from Bari
The deal with Palermo 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giulio Maggiore 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 targets5 Jun 2028
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 Jun 2028
The name of Vincenzo Colangiuli has come up in conversations Bari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“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
Uneasy
Market5 Jun 2028
The offer from Juventus for Tasos Douvikas 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Fiorentina asked and Pescara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fiorentina can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
The deal with Bari 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“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.
Market5 Jun 2028
The name of Álex Valle has come up in conversations Fiorentina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad5 Jun 2028
David De Gea 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Álex Valle commits to Fiorentina for another 5 years.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Fiorentina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Guðmundsson 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 May 2028
Nobody above Bari
First, on 76 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías Laborda 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.
Squad22 May 2028
A falling-out at Bari
Gonçalo Esteves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Belts tighten at Bari
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout22 May 2028
“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 dugout22 May 2028
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.
Market22 May 2028
The Arthur Gomes story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arthur Gomes signs something — a contract at Bari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 May 2028
Ebrima Darboe has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 May 2028
Giulio Maggiore 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.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 May 2028
Nobody at Bari 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.
The dugout15 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 May 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Bari has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout15 May 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad15 May 2028
A wage question at Bari
Ebrima Darboe 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 May 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Bari have had the benefit of it.
The dugout1 May 2028
Galo Vijande: 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.” Bari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market1 May 2028
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
17 clean sheets and the golden glove for Michele Cerofolini
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 17 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Guido Gomez
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Leonardo Mendicino has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Market1 May 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Apr 2028
Nobody above Bari
First, on 76 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arthur Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“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.
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
“I did not go to Mantova to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bari and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Bari counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Bari now.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Riccardo Burgio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bari 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 Apr 2028
The Arthur Gomes story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arthur Gomes signs something — a contract at Bari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
10 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Apr 2028
Bari finish in position 1
76 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market17 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for Ebrima Darboe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebrima Darboe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Sakoba Keita, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Gomes 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
Casarano made Bari work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
At 22 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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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.” Sandro Villa kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match18 Mar 2028
Bari make home a hard place to visit
15 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Nobody wants to play Bari right now
6 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Ebrima Darboe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebrima Darboe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match18 Mar 2028
Benevento made Bari work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Mathías Laborda 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 ratings20 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Francisco Di Franco.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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.” Sandro Villa kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Feb 2028
Nobody above Bari
First, on 61 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Match26 Feb 2028
Bari cannot stop winning
3 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Bari are at home on the road
3 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Giugliano made Bari work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathías Laborda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Arthur Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Ebrima Darboe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Flavio Junior Bianchi, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Boardroom
Bari counting the cost
-
Market
Giulio Maggiore placed on the list
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Feb 2028
No mercy from Bari
Cavese will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bari were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market21 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Ebrima Darboe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebrima Darboe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match19 Feb 2028
Whatever happens, Bari do not lose
10 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Bari make home a hard place to visit
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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 targets21 Feb 2028
No deal for Ronaldo at that price
Bari offered $24.0K; Genoa 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Gomes 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Bari had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sassuolo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market7 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Bari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Feb 2028
The run at home goes on for Bari
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Bari close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match5 Feb 2028
Whatever happens, Bari do not lose
8 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Matteo Italia has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Market7 Feb 2028
Sakoba Keita has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Bari have gone to Cesena 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Jan 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match22 Jan 2028
4‑0, and Guido Gomez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Bari tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market24 Jan 2028
Bari say no — this time
The offer from Lierse for Fernando Alarcón 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 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pineto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bari is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Ebrima Darboe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebrima Darboe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Jan 2028
The run at home goes on for Bari
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ebrima Darboe has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
In brief
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Transfer targets
Too dear: Bari walk away from Ronaldo
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Match
Still nobody has beaten Bari
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Squad
A row about effort at Bari
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Jan 2028
23 days out for Mauro Soldani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match3 Jan 2028
41 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market3 Jan 2028
Udinese come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bari did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Bari had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giulio Maggiore was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catanzaro have kept their man, and Bari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bari have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Dec 2027
11 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.
Match15 Dec 2027
The cup run ends for Bari
0‑1 against Sassuolo, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Age has not caught Guido Gomez yet — 8.01
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Ebrima Darboe did the work nobody counts — 7.44
14 combined actions and 7.44. 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giulio Maggiore was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Dec 2027
Three points for Bari, 3‑1 the final word against Foggia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Marked 8.43 — 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 ratings20 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch20 Dec 2027
“I watch every Bari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mantova runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Dec 2027
The view from the top for Bari
29 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Match4 Dec 2027
Whatever happens, Bari do not lose
9 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.
Squad6 Dec 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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Bari supporters have found a favourite in Joseph Liteta
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Joseph Liteta 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Three points for Bari, 1‑0 the final word against Benevento in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathías Laborda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Dec 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 7.83. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Nov 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 Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Giulio Maggiore 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 139% of everything Bari 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.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Ebrima Darboe
7.75, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Bari had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Vicari, and the manager let it.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Arthur Gomes beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market18 Oct 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 Bari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Giulio Maggiore 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ebrima Darboe’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bari.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Sandro Villa could afford to be generous.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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 Riccardo Burgio is on it.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
Crotone next, and one man in the Bari dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A season on the outside for Arthur Gomes
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Bari has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ebrima Darboe pops up at the right end — 7.68
7.68, 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guido Gomez and Bari agree another 2 years.
Match2 Oct 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Bari and Monopoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
9.46. 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Gomes 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Alarcón, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Arthur Gomes at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bari.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Sep 2027
So close: Ebrima Darboe’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Parma moved on, Ebrima Darboe reports back to Bari, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market6 Sep 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 Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 21 gone
That is the business done at Bari until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giulio Maggiore was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Sep 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 115% of everything Bari 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.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I watch every Bari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcione Milano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mariano Bareiro is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market6 Sep 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bari, another week without a signature from Francisco Di Franco.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fiorentina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Sep 2027
The offer from Cremonese for Giovanni Fabbian 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Fiorentina will try again when the window opens; Udinese may not be selling by then.
Market6 Sep 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Fiorentina close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 39 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets6 Sep 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.
Market6 Sep 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David De Gea and Fiorentina agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
David De Gea 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Aug 2027
Bari say no — this time
The offer from Avellino for Romano Floriani Mussolini 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.
Market30 Aug 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 Bari, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bari may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market30 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Ebrima Darboe again, and this time the name on the line is Lazio. Bari are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Bari
Gianluca Mancini 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giulio Maggiore 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Ebrima Darboe’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bari.
The dugout30 Aug 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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Fernando Alarcón out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Napoli is saying, and nobody at Bari is enjoying the guessing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giulio Maggiore was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Bari asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market16 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vincenzo Ricci 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alessio Vannucci 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuele Fontana has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market16 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Federico Baldini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Bari are still strangers to each other
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fernando Alarcón commits to Bari for another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Bari
Gianluca Mancini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Napoli wanted more than $720.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Bari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giulio Maggiore was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Bari 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Wages eat 88% of everything Bari 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Bari have made Mariano Bareiro available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Ebrima Darboe knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kevin Piscopo damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Fernando Alarcón out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$7.2M was the most the club would pay and Napoli 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daouda Traoré is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 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; Bari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Godoy Cruz have kept their man, and Bari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout28 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kevin Piscopo
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Fernando Alarcón out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$3.7M settles it between the clubs for Alessandro Renzi
Arezzo have accepted the money. What Bari do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bari people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Bari asked and Mantova 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Moreirense, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market7 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ebrima Darboe has his answer from Bari; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Pissardo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Fernando Alarcón out for 129 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 May 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Bari had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market3 May 2027
Bari may not be able to give Mariano Bareiro what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mariano Bareiro wants continental football; whether Bari can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cas Odenthal 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 May 2027
A falling-out at Bari
Joseph Liteta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ebrima Darboe may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout3 May 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
Ebrima Darboe knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Michele Cerofolini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Bari
Joseph Liteta 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 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Nicola Bellomo
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Bari man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Dailon Livramento was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Nobody at Bari 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.
The dugout26 Apr 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 Bari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo Della Morte signs something — a contract at Bari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Apr 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
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 Christian Gytkjær has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Mar 2027
Vaduz are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Vaduz
Ebrima Darboe 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liridon Berisha, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Vaduz 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
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 Marcel Monsberger is on it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Ayo Akinola knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vaduz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Jan 2027
Vaduz refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market18 Jan 2027
Wil come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Vaduz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Vaduz
Andrej Bačanin 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Vaduz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mischa Eberhard 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Cremonese 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Vaduz
6 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
No place for Ebrima Darboe in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vaduz are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market18 Jan 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Liridon Berisha may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Giugliano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bari is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The offer went to Fiorentina 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 targets11 Jan 2027
Bari and Cagliari have settled on $1.5M. 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Juve Stabia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market11 Jan 2027
St. Gallen come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bari did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Bari had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Frosinone, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daouda Traoré is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panathinaikos have kept their man, and Bari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Gytkjær, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Parma, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Vaduz
Stephan Seiler 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Wil have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marcel Monsberger. The answer from Vaduz has not changed — yet.
Market11 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Leon Schaffran has his answer from Vaduz; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Vaduz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mats Hammerich 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 targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Bari: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Kjell Peersman is in the works
Vaduz have made the call to KAA Gent. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Denis Simani knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vaduz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Daniele Montevago has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Vaduz 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 unbeaten for Bari
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Bari did not have in the autumn.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Bari's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bari has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match31 Oct 2026
Bari caught on 89 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cavese scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.56, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ebrima Darboe
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Honours even between Bari and Cavese
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bari, another week without a signature from Francisco Di Franco.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dynamo Kyiv is saying, and nobody at Bari is enjoying the guessing.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Giulio Maggiore’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bari.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Bari
Ebrima Darboe 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 dugout21 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Sandro Villa could afford to be generous.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nobody at Bari is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.