88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bologna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bologna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Riccardo Orsolini 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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Manuel Martic has agreed terms with Bari for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Holm 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: Riccardo Orsolini. 2‑0 against Venezia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Tommaso Arrigoni has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Bologna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bologna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Atalanta left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Cristiano Bruni left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Federico Bernardeschi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Emil Holm 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 ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Cristiano Bruni left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Federico Bernardeschi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bologna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jens Odgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jens Odgaard. 2‑1 against Genoa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Minute 99, against Juventus, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Successful dribbles: 51. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cagliari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bologna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: AS Roma have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jonathan Rowe. The answer from Bologna has not changed — yet.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Emil Holm 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lewis Ferguson
The offer from Hellas Verona for Gennaro Anatriello 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 Bologna 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Geremías Coppo has just signed for Bologna, and for once the answer mattered.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Bologna go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jens Odgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and Bologna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Cristiano Bruni, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Holm 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.
In brief
SquadA move Lautaro Rojas would have made for nothing
The offer from Talleres for Federico Bernardeschi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolò Cambiaghi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 10, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Bologna can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bologna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Cristiano Bruni chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bologna told Jonathan Rowe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.94 beside his name.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bologna and AC Milan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadEmil Holm falls out with a teammate over standards
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
A brace, and Jens Odgaard takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jens Odgaard provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Fiorentina had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
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.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Cristiano Bruni after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Holm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bologna told Federico Bernardeschi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolò Cambiaghi signs something — a contract at Bologna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJonathan Rowe has become a man the manager trusts
Jens Odgaard 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 Nov 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Cristiano Bruni was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Bologna dressing room was either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Federico Bernardeschi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Davide Merola obliged against Casertana. 4‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bologna.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
A brace, and Jens Odgaard takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jens Odgaard provided it, and the 8.65 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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna 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.
8.26. 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.
Jens Odgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nadir Zortea, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Cristiano Bruni left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bologna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jay Enem’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Bologna needing him to play as if none of it matters.
1 for Oussama El Azzouzi, marked 7.95, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Holm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bologna interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Cristiano Bruni keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“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 Bologna, 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.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Łukasz Skorupski 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bologna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bologna heard it as anything else.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jens Odgaard. 2‑0 against Genoa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
36 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Riccardo Orsolini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Emil Holm 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. 35 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bologna can tell you which week it ends in.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lewis Ferguson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Jay Enem has improved at 25, 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
Bologna asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bologna had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Empoli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 27 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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.
Jens Odgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Holm 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Jens Odgaard scored in the 88th minute, Udinese had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Bologna took the lot.
Empoli have accepted the money. What Bologna do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
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.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Silvio Russo clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Torino paid $9.9M and Bologna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bologna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Silvio Catalano recited it perfectly.
The offer went to Cagliari this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Bologna offered $2.2M; Empoli said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bologna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Davide Franzini had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Bologna asked and Südtirol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and Bologna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The chase for Sandro Kulenović ended with $5.6M changing hands and Torino out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
462 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Orji Okwonkwo reports back to Bologna with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Łukasz Skorupski 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.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Torino have accepted the money. What Bologna do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bologna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Bologna, 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Lewis Ferguson has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bologna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bologna asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Thijs Dallinga again, and this time the name on the line is Torino. Bologna are listening politely and promising nothing.
Riccardo Orsolini 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. Francesco Raffaelli is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
SquadWords at Bologna training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Bologna offered $13.0M; Venezia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lecco waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bologna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Torres this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer went to Vis Pesaro this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Bologna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Edoardo Soleri had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Bologna offered $6.0M; Lazio said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Torino; Bologna go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The offer from Central Córdoba SdE for Federico Bernardeschi 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.
Bologna have gone to Lazio with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bologna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bologna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Sassuolo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Vitória had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Torino have accepted the money. What Bologna do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bologna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He is going to Esteghlal, the club has $35.3M 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.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lewis Ferguson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Bologna 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bologna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Benevento had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Holm 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.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tommaso Ebone had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamín Domínguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bologna 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Bologna will try not to make too much of it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad29 May 2028
6 new faces, and Bologna are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Bologna 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.
Market29 May 2028
Tommaso Ebone returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bologna 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.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Emil Holm 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.
12 goals in 31 games at Leiria — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Bologna updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolò Cambiaghi signs something — a contract at Bologna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
BoardroomThe Bologna production line keeps running
Łukasz Skorupski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bologna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
“I watch every Bologna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Diosgyor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Federico Bernardeschi has written the date down.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Flavio Junčaj’s exile
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 53 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamín Domínguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bologna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Iván Fernández has, at Bologna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Riccardo Orsolini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Holm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bologna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout1 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Silvio Russo to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. AC Milan had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Martin Vitík is on it.
Łukasz Skorupski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bologna, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bologna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Holm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Łukasz Skorupski is on it.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bologna heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolás Toloza has just signed for Bologna, and for once the answer mattered.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Silvio Russo to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Bologna 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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3 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.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Akor Adams
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolò Cambiaghi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
11 goals in 30 games at Leiria — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Bologna updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamín Domínguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bologna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Pescara were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sassuolo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kevin Leone has pre-agreed a move to Bologna, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
8.08. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
10 seasons and 382 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bologna heard it as anything else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bologna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emil Holm wants continental football; whether Bologna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Matteo Basti has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Bologna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 Bologna know it.
5 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Łukasz Skorupski 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
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Atalanta scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bologna 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Edoardo Soleri reports back to Bologna with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Riccardo Orsolini 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Genoa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Something was said to Oussama El Azzouzi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bologna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Crotone moved on, Nicola Bagnolini reports back to Bologna, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gennaro Borrelli obliged against Fiorentina. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bologna.
“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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Łukasz Skorupski 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Benjamín Domínguez wants continental football; whether Bologna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Napoli will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bologna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Holm is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bologna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
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.
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 Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Riccardo Cargnelutti has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Bologna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Emil Holm 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Bologna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Łukasz Skorupski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Bologna and Lecce in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Silvio Russo to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bologna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bologna heard it as anything else.
Riccardo Orsolini 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 Dec 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Holm 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Akor Adams is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Silvio Russo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Bologna will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Bologna can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“I watch every Bologna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Renate runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutLazar Samardžić has become a man the manager trusts
Łukasz Skorupski 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Bologna is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Vitík 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.
Successful dribbles: 59. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thijs Dallinga provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Riccardo Orsolini. 1‑0 against Padova, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
93 minutes played. Riccardo Orsolini found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Pescara went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bologna, and 5 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Thijs Dallinga has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Martin Vitík 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Bologna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Jens Odgaard was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
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.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Silvio Russo to a room that had heard them before.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Atalanta; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Bologna deserved better, and so did he.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I 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.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Vitík 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.
Łukasz Skorupski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bologna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Bologna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Siracusa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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 unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Martin Vitík 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. 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Veres waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bologna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Riccardo Orsolini 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 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Bologna will try again when the window opens; Modena may not be selling by then.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadir Zortea 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 deal with Modena is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Bologna close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 26 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer from Bekescsaba for Tommaso Ebone 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 27 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.
Bologna have gone to Modena with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonio Raimondo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Łukasz Skorupski 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gennaro Borrelli is living that version at Bologna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bologna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with Cagliari is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Bologna 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Riccardo Orsolini. 2‑0 against Torino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cagliari have kept their man, and Bologna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bologna have done the hard part with Lecce, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Bologna 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Bologna asked and Modena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mattia Motolese is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The phone has started ringing about Gennaro Anatriello again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Norrkoping. Bologna are listening politely and promising nothing.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Nobody at Bologna 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bologna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The name of Federico Bernardeschi has come up in conversations Bologna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Łukasz Skorupski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
23 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bologna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Orsolini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Bologna 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Torbjørn Heggem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bologna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“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 easiest signature of my career.” Oussama El Azzouzi and Bologna agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolò Cambiaghi 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.
Siracusa paid $130.0K and Bologna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lazar Samardžić is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Łukasz Skorupski 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
31 appearances and 0 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
In brief
The dugoutMartin Vitík has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bologna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolò Cambiaghi wants continental football; whether Bologna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bologna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Bologna 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bologna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chase for Akor Adams ended with $17.6M changing hands and Venezia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Akor Adams has just signed for Bologna, and for once the answer mattered.
Riccardo Orsolini 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: Akor Adams from Venezia for $17.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bologna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bologna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bologna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Trapani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bologna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nazareno Solís is living that version at Bologna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Federico Bernardeschi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Bologna asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bologna have gone to Venezia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Piccoli 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.
Add another name to the list: Arzignano have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Flavio Junčaj. The answer from Bologna has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Bernardeschi, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Piccoli 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 at Bologna 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bologna. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Bologna
Riccardo Orsolini 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
4 clean sheets from 34 appearances at Bra. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Riccardo Orsolini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Jens Odgaard and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
8 clean sheets from 33 appearances at Gubbio. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bologna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 10 on 48 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bologna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Federico Bernardeschi will call it something else in private.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Piccoli provided it, and the 9.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and AS Roma spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and AS Roma were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommaso Pobega is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Riccardo Orsolini 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.
AC Milan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Piccoli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
10 combined actions and 6.76. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“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 Bologna, 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.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bologna can tell you which week it ends in.
Riccardo Orsolini 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.