190 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Benevento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. William Feola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Benevento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Benevento scored in the 102th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Paolo Bighetti did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mattia Maita 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 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Benevento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Benevento is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
“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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raffaele Romano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Mattia Maita 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. William Feola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Ospitaletto have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raffaele Romano. The answer from Benevento has not changed — yet.
3 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. William Feola 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 words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Mattia Maita 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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
9 academy players handed senior numbers at Benevento
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.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Luciano Grassi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simone Parisi 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 words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Benevento training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Mattia Maita 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Martín Escobar is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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 words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWilliam Feola is a better footballer than he was
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mattia Maita 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Mattia Maita damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Benevento is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Mattia Maita damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 phone has started ringing about Raffaele Romano again, and this time the name on the line is Ospitaletto. Benevento are listening politely and promising nothing.
Mattia Maita damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Marco Giugliano has come up in conversations Benevento were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Mattia Maita damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
The offer from Torino for Davide Lamesta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento 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.
Mattia Maita damages knee ligaments — 132 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
He is going to Palermo, the club has $1.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Filippo Nardi 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.
Palermo paid $1.1M and Benevento took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Arrigoni 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.
Mattia Maita damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
The name of Antonio Prisco has come up in conversations Benevento were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Mattia Maita 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Benevento has been clear about where Jacopo Manconi stands, which is more than many ever get.
146 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Benevento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mattia Maita 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Mattia Maita 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Position 3, 60 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Scognamillo 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Raffaele Romano has his answer from Benevento; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cosenza kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Benevento will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 Benevento, 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Raffaele Romano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Three points for Benevento, 1‑0 the final word against Salernitana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Davide Lamesta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. 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.
In brief
Boardroom93% of the income goes out in wages at Benevento
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mattia Maita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Scognamillo 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.
Marked 8.95 — 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Dino Mehic at his very best
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Prisco 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.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Benevento could ask drops and the wages Antonio Prisco can ask rise.
Marked 5.66. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Davide Lamesta provided it, and the 8.74 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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Scognamillo 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Raffaele Romano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento 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 Benevento 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.
Marked 8.41 — 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Davide Lamesta had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Siracusa were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Benevento is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Marked 8.95 — 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jacopo Manconi.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marco Giugliano did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mattia Maita 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raffaele Romano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Prisco 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 a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Antonio Prisco 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Davide Lamesta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Mattia Maita 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gianmarco Vannucchi signs something — a contract at Benevento or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Petr Kudakovskiy to Cosenza has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Benevento with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emanuele Anastasia and Benevento agree another 2 years.
Mattia Maita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Scognamillo 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Antonio Prisco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.31. 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.
“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 Benevento, 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.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
The phone has started ringing about Petr Kudakovskiy again, and this time the name on the line is Cosenza. Benevento are listening politely and promising nothing.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Mattia Maita
Boardroom87% of the income goes out in wages at Benevento
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Benevento is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Federico Gentile is living that version at Benevento, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Mantova have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ernesto Starita. The answer from Benevento has not changed — yet.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jordan Longhi 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Manconi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Davide Lamesta 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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Scognamillo 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Virtus Verona will make the call about Petr Kudakovskiy this week. Benevento have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Benevento know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gianmarco Vannucchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Mattia Maita 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Benevento has been clear about where Antonio Prisco stands, which is more than many ever get.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Mattia Maita 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Mattia Maita 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Nobody at Benevento will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Benevento know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefano Scognamillo and Benevento agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Prisco 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.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leonardo Sernicola signs something — a contract at Benevento or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Position 2, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Mattia Maita 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jordan Longhi. 3‑2 against Catania, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
At 23 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.
Marked 8.70 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Antonio Prisco at his very best
A brace, and Jordan Longhi takes the afternoon — 7.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jordan Longhi provided it, and the 7.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Latina held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Benevento answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leonardo Sernicola and Benevento agree another 3 years.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gleb Knyazev has just signed for Benevento, and for once the answer mattered.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Mattia Maita 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Claudio Messaggi. 1‑0 against Audace Cerignola, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.73, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jordan Longhi 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Javi Zarzo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Jacopo Manconi has improved at 34, 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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Davide Lamesta. 2‑1 against Trapani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mattia Maita 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Benevento know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Giovanni Catanese reports back to Benevento with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Mattia Maita 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.
8.16. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 34 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Catanzaro will make the call about Giovanni Catanese this week. Benevento have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Benevento has been clear about where Antonio Ferrara stands, which is more than many ever get.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Mattia Maita 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. Marco Giugliano is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Add another name to the list: Forli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raffaele Romano. The answer from Benevento has not changed — yet.
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Antonio Prisco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolò Jorge Floris is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Federico Ferrara 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. Valentino Martinelli 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mariano Serafini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Enrico Giannini is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mattia Maita 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giovanni Catanese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jordan Longhi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Antonio Prisco 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. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salvatore Borrelli is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mattia Maita 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.
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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolò Jorge Floris is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 32 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Benevento training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Mattia Maita 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 words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolò Jorge Floris has just signed for Benevento, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giovanni Catanese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$6.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Benevento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Benevento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Marco Tumminello was one of the reasons people came, and $6.3M does not replace that by itself.
Mattia Maita 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Prisco 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gianmarco Vannucchi signs something — a contract at Benevento or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Benevento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is going to Spezia, the club has $690.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alessandro Paudice 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.
Mattia Maita 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mattia Maita signs something — a contract at Benevento or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is going to Pisa, the club has $1.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Benevento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giovanni Catanese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Mattia Maita 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.
In brief
Boardroom110% of the income goes out in wages at Benevento
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giovanni Catanese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
33 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Davide Lamesta will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Benevento escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Antonio Prisco scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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 Apr 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Davide Lamesta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.69. 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.
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.
Mattia Maita 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.
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Benevento told Christian Kouan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces27 Mar 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Nobody at Benevento will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Marco Tumminello on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Benevento and Siracusa.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Javi Zarzo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Pellegrino 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 2‑0 win over Audace Cerignola, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match11 Mar 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Benevento. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Bra suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Benevento, and the summer will force 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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mattia Maita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javi Zarzo 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.
“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 Benevento know it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Benevento know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Tumminello. 2‑1 against Trapani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Pellegrino 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Davide Lamesta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
Nobody at Benevento will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Benevento, 1‑0 the final word against Casertana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Perlingieri 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Benevento told Javi Zarzo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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
Mattia Maita 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Benevento know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mattia Maita 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Jordan Longhi from Monza for $1.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javi Zarzo 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.
“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 Benevento know it.
Marked 8.43 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Lazio ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gianmarco Vannucchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Mattia Maita 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Javi Zarzo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Tumminello. 2‑0 against Casarano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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 complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Mattia Maita 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.
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.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javi Zarzo 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.
“I watch every Benevento game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Viktoria Plzen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
3 goals in 11 games at Dolomiti Bellunesi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Benevento updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lorenzo Carfora obliged against Lecce. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Benevento.
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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 easiest signature of my career.” Angelo Viscardi and Benevento agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Mattia Maita 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.