Empoli go through and Atalanta go home, 3‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Empoli kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Atalanta will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guglielmo Mignani provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atalanta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Giorgio Scalvini 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atalanta will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolò Rocca after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Beaten 5 times, 2 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atalanta will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tiago Pucciarelli 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.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atalanta will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 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.
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.
The goal that put Inter ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Atalanta equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atalanta will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolò Rocca after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Elías Verón has his answer from Atalanta; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Flavio Russo 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atalanta has been clear about where Simone Cinquegrano stands, which is more than many ever get.
Two goals and a mark of 9.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Enrico Serra, 17, 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 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Lecco will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Andrea Mallamo has pre-agreed a move to Atalanta, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Damián Lemos 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atalanta, another week without a signature from Lorenzo Bernasconi.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicolò Rocca after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Franck Kessié 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 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nicolò Rocca chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atalanta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
14 matches without a win, and then this, against Cagliari. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Honest Ahanor, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 7.95 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vincenzo Damiano is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Flavio Russo
14 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.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
The mood at Atalanta has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
4 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Franck Kessié 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atalanta can tell you which week it ends in.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Honest Ahanor did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicolò Rocca after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
11 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sergio D'Amico is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tiago Pucciarelli wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
11 seasons and 497 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The offer from Heracles for Emirhan İlkhan 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 19 gone
That is the business done at Atalanta 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.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Atalanta
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tiziano Mancini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giorgio Giordano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Juve Stabia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
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.
Guglielmo Mignani 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giovanni Bonfanti has his answer from Atalanta; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Frosinone next, and one man in the Atalanta dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alberto Galli is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Antonio Lombardo 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Achille Bellini 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ciro Palumbo 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Cheikh Niasse wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Denis Franchi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 15 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Kessié was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Flavio Russo has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atalanta told Marco Sportiello something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Franck Kessié 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samir Mouisse is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
At 26 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.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Franck Kessié has taken the hint, and Atalanta are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Raoul Bellanova signs something — a contract at Atalanta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atalanta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Denis Franchi has written the date down.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atalanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Emirhan İlkhan again, and this time the name on the line is Napoli. Atalanta are listening politely and promising nothing.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atalanta lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tiago Pucciarelli wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Ladrón de Guevara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Franck Kessié 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mirko Ladrón de Guevara 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.
Add another name to the list: AC Milan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Honest Ahanor. The answer from Atalanta has not changed — yet.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Franck Kessié 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergio D'Amico is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giuseppe Caruso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Atalanta. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadMario Pašalić is training like a man with a point to make
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Add another name to the list: Criciuma have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emirhan İlkhan. The answer from Atalanta has not changed — yet.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atalanta has been clear about where Damián Lemos stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atalanta, another week without a signature from Vincenzo Damiano.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rahul Sharma had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A season's verdict on Honest Ahanor: the best of his age
Atalanta have a 21-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Franck Kessié 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
22 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Atalanta now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atalanta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atalanta, another week without a signature from Lucas Wolfert.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emirhan İlkhan wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Marco Sportiello is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Atalanta will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
8 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.
Franck Kessié 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tiago Pucciarelli wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rahul Sharma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
6 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.
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 7.94 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ibrahim Sulemana wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
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 dugout30 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” the manager chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Atalanta $880.0K. Sead Kolašinac left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 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.
Giorgio Scalvini 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 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.
“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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marco Sportiello 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.
4 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rahul Sharma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marco Sportiello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giuseppe Piazza and Atalanta agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mario Pašalić signs something — a contract at Atalanta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Atalanta can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Atalanta will try not to make too much of it.
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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 Honest Ahanor is on it.
In brief
SquadA Atalanta teenager takes the young player award
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Vincenzo Damiano 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Atalanta 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 dugout19 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” the manager, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
5 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rahul Sharma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Marco Sportiello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atalanta can tell you which week it ends in.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giorgio Gentile is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luciano Messina 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Giuseppe Piazza 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.
Franck Kessié 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atalanta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutHonest Ahanor has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Frederick Samuel Ndongue has agreed terms with Cittadella for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Simone Cinquegrano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Honest Ahanor had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atalanta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of El Bilal Touré has come up in conversations Atalanta were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
197 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Atalanta know what they have.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Atalanta close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and St. Pauli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. El Bilal Touré provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Franck Kessié 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 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.14, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Honest Ahanor, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Atalanta asked and Sassuolo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Empoli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about El Bilal Touré. The answer from Atalanta has not changed — yet.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Empoli for El Bilal Touré 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.
$3.5M on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Daniel Maldini was one of the reasons people came, and $82.3M does not replace that by itself.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Cheikh Niasse comes from Monopoli for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Empoli paid $710.0K and Atalanta took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atalanta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Inter for Daniel Maldini 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
1 for Raoul Bellanova, marked 7.66, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“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.
Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raoul Bellanova was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pisa held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Atalanta answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Position 13, 21 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giovanni Bonfanti has his answer from Atalanta; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ibrahim Sulemana wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
El Bilal Touré was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atalanta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Guglielmo Mignani obliged against Padova. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Atalanta.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Atalanta scored in the 122th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Honest Ahanor did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Franck Kessié and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Luca Sonzogni, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” the manager, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luca Sonzogni
“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.
Marco Sportiello 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 ratings4 Dec 2028
Daniel Maldini was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Franck Kessié 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Atalanta can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Frank Tsadjout has his answer from Atalanta; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Tiago Pucciarelli obliged against Vis Pesaro. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Atalanta.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Atalanta scored in the 118th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Honest Ahanor, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Giovanni Bonfanti, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.14, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Honest Ahanor, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Byron Bustamante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ibrahim Sulemana wants continental football; whether Atalanta can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Flavio Russo 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.
1‑5 to AS Roma, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Atalanta and AS Roma, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 dugout16 Oct 2028
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Atalanta have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giorgio Scalvini signs something — a contract at Atalanta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ezequiel Soriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marco Sportiello 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 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Sulemana, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutA fresh start for Franck Kessié under the new man
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marco Sportiello 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tommaso Caputo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lorenzo Di Stefano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maximiliano Velazco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
36 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The offer from Cádiz for Frank Tsadjout 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atalanta has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Atalanta had all but put away. Juventus will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Atalanta can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Empoli moved on, Tiago Libares reports back to Atalanta, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Atalanta ran out of time with Empoli. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Flavio Russo 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atalanta have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and El Bilal Touré reports back to Atalanta with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Atalanta have done the hard part with Empoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 21 signed and 26 gone
That is the business done at Atalanta 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Byron Bustamante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Franck Kessié 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Empoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1 for Lorenzo Bernasconi, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maximiliano Velazco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Kessié was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Emirhan İlkhan again, and this time the name on the line is Napoli. Atalanta are listening politely and promising nothing.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 5 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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Atalanta and Empoli have settled on $3.0M. 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atalanta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vincenzo Damiano is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tiago Libares had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer went to Pineto 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Franck Kessié 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atalanta have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
458 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Marco Sportiello 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.
$6.8M settles it between the clubs for Cheikh Niasse
Monopoli have accepted the money. What Atalanta do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atalanta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Denis Franchi has just signed for Atalanta, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Byron Bustamante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Giacomo Raspadori was one of the reasons people came, and $85.0M does not replace that by itself.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maximiliano Velazco 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.
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.
Atalanta have gone to Padova 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.
The offer from Empoli for El Bilal Touré 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padova have kept their man, and Atalanta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 16 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Giacomo Raspadori 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.
At 28 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Atalanta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Atalanta hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tiago Libares 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.
Giacomo Raspadori 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Giugliano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Atalanta and Mantova have settled on $1.8M. 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $1.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Benevento drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer from Ospitaletto for Maximiliano Velazco 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ospitaletto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rahul Sharma had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have shaken hands with Benevento; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Atalanta have paid $2.4M for Frank Tsadjout, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Atalanta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atalanta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ipswich Town had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Atalanta and Cremonese have settled on $2.4M. 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.
The offer from Spezia for El Bilal Touré 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.
The chase for Giovanni Simeone ended with $4.1M changing hands and Torino out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Atalanta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Giacomo Raspadori 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Atalanta and Torino have settled on $4.1M. 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.
$6.3M on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from LOSC Lille for Honest Ahanor 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Spezia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about El Bilal Touré. The answer from Atalanta has not changed — yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Giacomo Raspadori 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.
$400.0K was the most the club would pay and Cagliari 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Atalanta training over how hard people work
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Atalanta can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Atalanta have gone to Lecce 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.
The offer from Juventus for Giacomo Raspadori 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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The offer went to Sassuolo 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atalanta heard it as anything else.
The offer went to Cagliari 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lars Ritzka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Giacomo Raspadori 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 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.
“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 Atalanta know it.
Lucas Wolfert is 20, and Atalanta have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atalanta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atalanta told Mirko Ladrón de Guevara something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vinko Kolaković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Giacomo Raspadori 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
“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 Atalanta know it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atalanta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atalanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atalanta will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nahuel Bravo has agreed terms with Torino for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Giacomo Raspadori was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
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.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Joaquín Mancuso is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atalanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Tavanti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atalanta lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Lars Ritzka has agreed terms with Lazio for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Giacomo Raspadori 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giacomo Raspadori provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atalanta can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vinko Kolaković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atalanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Franck Kessié 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 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.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atalanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atalanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was El Bilal Touré’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Atalanta.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
El Bilal Touré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
“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 Atalanta know it.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atalanta lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Franck Kessié 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atalanta can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atalanta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Giacomo Raspadori 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Franck Kessié 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 6.98, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atalanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Kessié was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atalanta lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Atalanta close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 9 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.
Atalanta have gone to Pescara 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.
Franck Kessié and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.
Bari will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Guido Gomez has pre-agreed a move to Atalanta, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Inter paid $10.5M and Atalanta took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Giacomo Raspadori 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
AlbinoLeffe paid $650.0K and Atalanta took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgio Scalvini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Atalanta asked and Burnley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atalanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Monza spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atalanta have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Atalanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atalanta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marco Sportiello 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 Jan 2028
Words at Atalanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgio Scalvini 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.