Marked for Hassane Kamara
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Jan 2028
Udinese march on in the cup
Atalanta are out and Udinese go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
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 Udinese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A one-man rearguard from Maduka Okoye
There were 6 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Udinese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Alfred Gomis: 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.” Udinese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
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 7.50 for the rest of it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Unai Gómez 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Udinese will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Udinese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Kristensen 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Arturo Bellucci has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Udinese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Udinese
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Udinese is running low.
Market3 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Udinese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Unai Gómez 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 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Udinese have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Udinese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Kristensen 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 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Maduka Okoye
“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 watch3 Jan 2028
“I did not go to OH Leuven to sit and watch. I want to come back to Udinese and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
One of those days for Unai Gómez
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Unai Gómez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Udinese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Nov 2027
Whatever happens, Udinese do not lose
7 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Thomas Kristensen 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 ratings29 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Adam Buksa
“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.
Match27 Nov 2027
It needed Thomas Kristensen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Monza, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market29 Nov 2027
The Maduka Okoye story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maduka Okoye signs something — a contract at Udinese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
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
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
The paperwork is done: Giacomo Satalino joins from Sassuolo in a deal worth $2.0M. Now comes the harder part.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lennon Miller is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad16 Aug 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 Udinese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Giacomo Satalino has just signed for Udinese, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Udinese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Kristensen 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Udinese have made Hassane Kamara available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 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 Udinese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jul 2027
Manuel De Marco has left for Latina in a $360.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Udinese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Kristensen 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lucio Urquía has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Udinese have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tomás Parmo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
Lazio come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Udinese did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Udinese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Jun 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 Udinese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Nicolò Zaniolo 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Thomas Kristensen 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Udinese
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Udinese is running low.
Squad7 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.
Squad7 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 Udinese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tomás Parmo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market7 Jun 2027
Mërgim Vojvoda wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Udinese hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Udinese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Kristensen 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
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pressure builds in the Udinese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Udinese did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nicolò Zaniolo 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Thomas Kristensen 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Udinese supporters have found a favourite in Unai Gómez
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Unai Gómez 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Udinese get the job done against Parma
A 2‑0 win over Parma, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Udinese know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
The fee is $4.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Südtirol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nicola Pietrangeli is living that version at Udinese, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 Udinese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alex Ramku is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match9 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Udinese against AS Roma
1‑2 to AS Roma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jordan Zemura 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Unai Gómez
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
The spotlight tightens on Adam Buksa
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 ratings11 Jan 2027
A mark of 5.66 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.