The words a physio says slowly. 16 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolò Fagioli wants continental football; whether Empoli can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Iwo Kaczmarski has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Walid Cheddira. 2‑0 against Südtirol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Edoardo Soleri was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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 words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Empoli scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Empoli, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
A 1‑0 win over Union Brescia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Filippo Distefano 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.
“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 Empoli, and 3 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leandro Desábato commits to Empoli for another 2 years.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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.” Paolo Piras kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Leandro Desábato is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli 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 Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matías Vargas 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.
Chances created: 17. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“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 Empoli, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paolo Piras after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Empoli told Cristian Cauz something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Empoli that is a harder question to answer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Empoli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Empoli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Edoardo Vergani’s exile
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Empoli 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 Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
9 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.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paolo Piras was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Empoli dressing room was either.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph Ceesay will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thomas Campaniello is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 Empoli know it.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Empoli, 2‑1 the final word against Venezia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Matías Vargas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Dennis Johnsen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Empoli, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Empoli close the window on a squad of their own making
26 in and 33 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The deal that would have taken Cristian Cauz to Ospitaletto has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Empoli with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Empoli will try again when the window opens; Bari may not be selling by then.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Empoli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Matías Vargas 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.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Empoli and Palermo, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ospitaletto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matías Vargas 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Mouhamadou Sarr again, and this time the name on the line is Le Havre AC. Empoli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniele Ceccarelli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Empoli, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edoardo Soleri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Filippo Distefano has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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 Cristian Cauz has written the date down.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Bellinzona for Mouhamadou Sarr 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Matteo Pisseri arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Empoli have no good answer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Empoli has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Empoli and Frosinone have settled on $36.0K. 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
15 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Position 5 on 61 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
In brief
The dugoutLorenzo Tosto asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli 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.
Walid Cheddira 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.
Empoli asked and Hellas Verona 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Avellino did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $13.3M for Walid Cheddira, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Elia Caprile is a Empoli player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Empoli spend $13.3M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $13.3M for Walid Cheddira, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Empoli asked and Palermo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Empoli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Mbabu asks for a word with the manager
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Avellino 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Cagliari; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Empoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$1.5M was the most the club would pay and Hellas Verona were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
AC Milan paid $9.9M and Empoli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
He is going to Atalanta, the club has $12.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Empoli have gone to Hellas Verona 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.
Empoli asked and Bari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Matías Vargas 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.
Squad13 new faces, and Empoli are still learning each other
48Edition
The Empoli Post
28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad28 Jun 2027
Andrea Ghion damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Cauz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matías Vargas 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.
Empoli have gone to Pescara with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
143 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Empoli and Palermo have settled on $2.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Shooting Stars for Tyronne Ebuehi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Empoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Thun have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicolas Haas. The answer from Empoli 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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: Nicolò Fagioli from Fiorentina for $13.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Fiorentina; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Empoli have had the benefit 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 Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Spezia 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Empoli has been clear about where Tyronne Ebuehi stands, which is more than many ever get.
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 5 on 61 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.
Empoli and Casarano have settled on $3.2M. 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.
Add another name to the list: Lecco have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joseph Ceesay. The answer from Empoli has not changed — yet.
“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 Empoli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Empoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lazio, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kevin Mbabu 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 Lorenzo Ignacchiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Empoli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dynamo Kyiv runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nicolas Haas damages knee ligaments — 114 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edoardo Saporiti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stiven Shpendi. 3‑2 against Virtus Entella, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerard Yepes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lorenzo Ignacchiti. 1‑0 against Carrarese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
30 appearances at Pianese and the goals have stopped going in. Empoli lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Joseph Ceesay
130 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matías Vargas 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.
“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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Empoli pretended it was anything other than a decision about 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 Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Cauz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matías Vargas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Ghilardi 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Empoli pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kian Fitz-Jim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
30 appearances at Pianese and the goals have stopped going in. Empoli lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Kevin Mbabu
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paolo Piras was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Empoli dressing room was either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 7.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filippo Distefano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
11 shut-outs in 29 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Emiliano Filippis has been having a lot of them.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Matías Vargas is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Tyronne Ebuehi 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.
Palermo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Kian Fitz-Jim falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Empoli pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I watch every Empoli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Juve Stabia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli 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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Ghilardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Empoli told Mandela Keita something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
6 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Duccio Degli Innocenti 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 Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerard Yepes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Vargas wants continental football; whether Empoli 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 Empoli 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 Daniele Ghilardi 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: Jonatan Braut Brunes. 2‑0 against Pisa, 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. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matías Vargas 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 Kian Fitz-Jim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Mar 2027
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 1‑2 Paolo Piras left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kevin Mbabu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli 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 Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edoardo Saporiti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Empoli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Ghilardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Stiven Shpendi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerard Yepes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kian Fitz-Jim 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 words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filippo Distefano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tyronne Ebuehi 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 Daniele Ghilardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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.
The dugout15 Feb 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 Paolo Piras to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Ignacchiti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
Looking aheadEmpoli take on the side everybody is chasing
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Gagra for Francesco Coppola 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Empoli ran out of time with Como. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerard Yepes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Perugia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Empoli are taken apart by Lazio — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The fee is $2.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Frosinone drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed 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.
The offer went to Como 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Benevento kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Empoli will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Empoli have done the hard part with AC Milan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee is $4.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Pisa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
AC Milan paid $3.9M and Empoli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The name of Joseph Ceesay has come up in conversations Empoli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Juventus is saying, and nobody at Empoli is enjoying the guessing.
Kevin Mbabu 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 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Empoli training over how hard people work
Player ratingsStiven Shpendi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Ignacchiti is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.2M — a club that wants Francesco Coppola enough to be asked twice.
Matías Vargas 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Empoli had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Filippo Distefano has come up in conversations Empoli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nicolas Haas has his answer from Empoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Matías Vargas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Paolo Piras, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Empoli will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Matías Vargas 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 Lorenzo Ignacchiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Nicolas Haas in the middle of it, and Ascoli unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Cauz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matías Vargas 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edoardo Saporiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Filippo Bandinelli 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Paolo Piras to a room that had heard them before.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Something was said to Matías Vargas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Matías Vargas 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.
Palermo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Paolo Piras to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Niccolò Corrado’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Empoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Empoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Joseph Ceesay has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Kevin Mbabu 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 Lorenzo Ignacchiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Filippo Distefano and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Palermo next, and one man in the Empoli dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of 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.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Andrea Ghion 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 Nov 2026
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Ignacchiti 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 taken on 118 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Matías Vargas
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Matías Vargas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Empoli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.” Paolo Piras chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Südtirol defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Matías Vargas 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Empoli 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout26 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.” Paolo Piras kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edoardo Soleri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Curto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Empoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Cauz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matías Vargas 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 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Empoli told Jonatan Braut Brunes something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
The dugout19 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.” Paolo Piras kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Catanzaro in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Empoli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bogdan Popov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Empoli would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonatan Braut Brunes. 2‑1 against Juve Stabia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
10 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Matías Vargas 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 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paolo Piras was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Empoli dressing room was either.
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 Filippo Bandinelli has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutLuca Magnino knocks on the manager’s door
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filippo Bandinelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Padova in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Empoli would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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 manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Bogdan Popov to Parma has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Empoli with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Empoli asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Pietro Pellegri 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $7.2M has been paid because Matías Vargas is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
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. 7.95 beside his name.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Empoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Empoli know which stage they are at.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Gimnasia y Esgrima; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Empoli offered $13.6M; Atalanta 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.
The offer from Como for Bogdan Popov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Empoli asked and Virtus Entella said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mariano Fontana has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Empoli offered $16.3M; Nashville SC 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.
Empoli asked and Monza 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Empoli has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
$14.3M on the table at Nashville SC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Kevin Mbabu 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Empoli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Empoli, another week without a signature from Kevin Mbabu.
Still no offer on the table, and Joseph Ceesay’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Stiven Shpendi has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Empoli have gone to Genoa 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.
Andrea Ghion 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Filippo Bandinelli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Empoli 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.