Marked for Danilo Veiga
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Renzo Machado is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuele Ricci 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 Aug 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Graduation day at Lecce
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Lecce
Medon Berisha 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 Aug 2028
The phone has started ringing about Miloš Jović again, and this time the name on the line is Sampdoria. Lecce are listening politely and promising nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Renzo Machado is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Lecce
Samuele Ricci 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
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Squad
Danilo Veiga has improved at 25, which nobody expected
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Market
Konan N'Dri linked with a move away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Lecce
Mathías Olivera 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Francesco Mandato has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lecce have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Kialonda Gaspar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.86. 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match18 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kialonda Gaspar. 1‑0 against Cagliari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch20 Mar 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lecce, and 7 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lameck Banda, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Feb 2028
The wait goes on for Lecce
13 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market28 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and Adrian Benedyczak takes the afternoon — 7.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adrian Benedyczak provided it, and the 7.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Feb 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Lecce's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lecce has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Jan 2028
Lecce say no — this time
The offer from Giugliano for Alexandru Borbei 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.
Squad17 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Gabriele Martena has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lecce have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match15 Jan 2028
Lecce cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match15 Jan 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Jan 2028
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Oct 2027
Lecce taken apart
0‑3 to Genoa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market25 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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lecce may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match23 Oct 2027
4 matches without a win for Lecce
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lecce are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Lecce
Mathías Olivera 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Lecce are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
Doors closed at Lecce
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.74 for the rest of it.
Squad18 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Oct 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Kialonda Gaspar 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
Juventus left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wladimiro Falcone, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Omri Gandelman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Danilo Veiga and Lecce agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Estrela da Amadora to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lecce and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Mar 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 Lecce can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Lecce's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lecce has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kialonda Gaspar 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 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Antonino Gallo
“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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Wladimiro Falcone has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lecce 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Lecce can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
The terraces22 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
Lecce taken apart
1‑4 to Como, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match9 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Lecce
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Lecce are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Kialonda Gaspar
“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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Lecce dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.