Cosenza 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Cosenza until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
$350.0K on the table at Novara. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paolo Dametto 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. Torino have kept their man, and Cosenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Energe provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 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.
Cosenza have gone to Cesena 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Mario Perlingieri 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 Paolo Dametto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mario Perlingieri did not need any: 8.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Cosenza and Como have settled on $300.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
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.
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.
Mario Perlingieri 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and Cosenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cosenza have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Cosenza will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Giuseppe Paganelli on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto 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.
Alessandro Dalmazzi 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Salernitana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Giuseppe Paganelli could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutJacopo Sala asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cosenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A mark of 8.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.25, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paolo Dametto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Marked 7.09 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutJacopo Sala dropped after a run of poor form
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza 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 Paolo Dametto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mario Perlingieri has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cosenza have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutMatteo Rizzo has become a man the manager trusts
Nicolò Contiliano 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 Paolo Dametto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Latina in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cosenza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Energe provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mario Perlingieri did not need any: 9.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A season average of 7.19 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Cosenza know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antonio Energe. 4‑3 against Siracusa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cosenza and Siracusa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cosenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mario Perlingieri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto 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 21 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Audace Cerignola had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Filippo Palazzino obliged against Avellino. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Cosenza.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto 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.
Alessandro Dalmazzi 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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 1‑3 Giuseppe Paganelli left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutMatteo Rizzo has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Aldo Florenzi
A place in the month's best eleven for Andrea Cogoni
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Andrea Cogoni has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cosenza have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Antonio Ferrara has moved up it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Potenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
An average of 7.03 in a first team he is several years too young for. Cosenza have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto 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.
Andrea Cogoni 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jacopo Sala
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.
Mario Perlingieri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Paolo Dametto 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Trapani scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Cosenza 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.
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cosenza.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Giuseppe Paganelli kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Cosenza 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mario Perlingieri did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paolo Dametto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20 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.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.00 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Match23 Sep 2026
Elia Bellini wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Elia Bellini found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Siracusa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sofiane Achour did not need any: 8.43, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Mario Perlingieri 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Mario Perlingieri is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo Rizzo signs something — a contract at Cosenza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A mark of 8.54 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Viktoria Plzen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The deal that would have taken Alessandro Arioli to Carrarese has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cosenza with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cosenza had all but put away. Monopoli will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Cosenza until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes is saying, and nobody at Cosenza is enjoying the guessing.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Antonio Energe’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cosenza.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and Cosenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nicolò Contiliano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cosenza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cosenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mario Perlingieri 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cosenza.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Cosenza 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cosenza can pretend not to have heard.
Mario Perlingieri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Rennais have kept their man, and Cosenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Crvena Zvezda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Rayo Vallecano have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Paolo Dametto 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.
Mario Perlingieri 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.
Cosenza asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dario Tarantino is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marco Pellegrini has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mirko Scalise has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filippo Marchetti has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Cosenza know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Mario Perlingieri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Dametto 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.
12 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cosenza, another week without a signature from Gianluca Clemente.