Marked for Massimo Coda
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Oct 2027
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Virtus Entella are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Entella this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Marked 8.78 — 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 ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match23 Oct 2027
It needed Farès Ghedjemis to find the net to bring anything home at all: 4‑4 against Cesena, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Massimo Coda 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ovidijus Siaulys knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Entella this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Oct 2027
Brando Moruzzi scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Monza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A performance of 9.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Oct 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 ratings11 Oct 2027
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
The one thing Bernat Guiu could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Massimo Coda 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leonardo Candellone signs something — a contract at Virtus Entella or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
Burgos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Virtus Entella did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Massimo Coda 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 Virtus Entella, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Farès Ghedjemis, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Andrea Tiritiello 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
Uneasy
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mattia Viti 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Business is business: Massimo Coda goes
Virtus Entella paid $140.0K and Sampdoria took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Liam Henderson
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simone Ghidotti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Somebody else's move, somebody else's headline. What it left at Sampdoria is an empty peg and a footballer who keeps glancing at it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
35 appearances at Cittadella and the goals keep coming. Virtus Entella are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
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.
Squad28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Virtus Entella this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
54 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Turicchia, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
So close: Massimo Coda’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Virtus Entella moved on, Massimo Coda reports back to Sampdoria, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market21 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Alex Ferrari
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Ferrari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Alcione Milano pay $91.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Massimo Coda, and the manager let it.
Market21 Jun 2027
Sampdoria have let the market know Alessandro Di Pardo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mattia Viti is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sampdoria will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sampdoria may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Virtus Entella have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Massimo Coda. The answer from Sampdoria has not changed — yet.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 99% of everything Sampdoria 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabio Depaoli, and the manager let it.
Market14 Jun 2027
Alcione Milano are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Sampdoria will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
28 appearances at Carrarese and the goals keep coming. Sampdoria are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
The goals keep arriving from Stefano Girelli’s exile
3 goals in 24 games at Casertana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sampdoria updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sampdoria may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Jun 2027
At 21, Simone Pafundi is already the best thing here
An average of 7.20 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sampdoria have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
75 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market7 Jun 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fabio Depaoli may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Cultural Leonesa suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Sampdoria, and the summer will force it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
16 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match8 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Sampdoria
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad10 May 2027
A season average of 7.19 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sampdoria know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad10 May 2027
103 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch10 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Antonino La Gumina’s exile
11 goals in 34 games at Cultural Leonesa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sampdoria updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Match8 May 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Reggiana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
132 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad12 Apr 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 9.05 — 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabio Depaoli, and the manager let it.
Match10 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Salvatore Esposito was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Liam Henderson
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 Liam Henderson.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Massimo Coda
“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
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 160 days on the sidelines for Massimo Coda, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad15 Mar 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sampdoria know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match13 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Sampdoria against Monza
0‑2 to Monza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Venuti
“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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mattia Viti is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.49 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Salvatore Esposito was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.83, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Edoardo Soleri
“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.
Match6 Mar 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
26 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Massimo Coda 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
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Feb 2027
At 20, Simone Pafundi is already the best thing here
An average of 7.06 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sampdoria have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad15 Feb 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Palma, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.23 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
Massimo Coda 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Jan 2027
4 matches without a win for Sampdoria
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sampdoria are no longer polite ones.
Market25 Jan 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Salvatore Esposito was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 202% of everything Sampdoria 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liam Henderson, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sampdoria had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mattia Viti is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sampdoria will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market4 Jan 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 9.12 — 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mattia Viti is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.37 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad4 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
It needed Mattia Viti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Padova, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mattia Viti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.70, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
It needed Matteo Brunori to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Spezia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Sampdoria needed to.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Massimo Coda 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Liam Henderson signs something — a contract at Sampdoria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Antonín Barák wants a proper job in this side
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Antonín Barák has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Sampdoria know, and have known for weeks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Matteo Brunori’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sampdoria.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 9.28 — 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.56 — 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Massimo Coda 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Mattia Viti
5 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fabio Depaoli 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 Fabio Depaoli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Sampdoria
9 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.
Match4 Nov 2026
The small margins put Sampdoria out
Out, 0‑1 to Udinese, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Edoardo Soleri
“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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Salvatore Esposito was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Oct 2026
2‑3 to Frosinone, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 1242% of everything Sampdoria 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liam Henderson, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Sampdoria needed to.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sampdoria, another week without a signature from Massimo Coda.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
Mattia Viti scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Modena, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonín Barák, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
3.83 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mattia Viti finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Sampdoria have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gaëtan Coucke and Sampdoria agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Salvatore Esposito 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 Gaëtan Coucke'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 Sampdoria, another week without a signature from Massimo Coda.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Manuel Cicconi 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 Sampdoria, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
Matteo Ricci is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sampdoria has been clear about where Matteo Ricci stands, which is more than many ever get.