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.
The name of Maxime Giron has come up in conversations Foggia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lumezzane have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michele Marano 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tommaso Rinaldi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michele Marano is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Franco Vezzoni is a Foggia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vicenza have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Felice D'Amico 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianmarco Todisco 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mamadou Coulibaly trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Foggia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Giuseppe Panico 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michele Marano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Foggia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia 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 Gianmarco Todisco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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. Mamadou Coulibaly has moved up it.
In brief
The dugoutHamza Haoudi has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Urartu for Alessio Raballo 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.
$440.0K was the most the club would pay and Cittadella 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lumezzane have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Nobody at Foggia 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 words a physio says slowly. 26 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. Foggia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Federico Zuccon 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Panico is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foggia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gianluca Saro has gone, the accounts have $3.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Hull City paid $3.9M and Foggia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The fee is $420.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lumezzane drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Foggia 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.
$470.0K was the most the club would pay and Catania 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.
Federico Zuccon 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.
$72.0K on the table at Cittadella. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Foggia will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foggia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Siracusa; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Foggia asked and Stade Malien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Foggia have gone to Catania 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
33 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
In brief
SquadWords at Foggia training over how hard people work
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Andrea Gallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Foggia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Foggia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Zuccon signs something — a contract at Foggia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Foggia can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 at Foggia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foggia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arzignano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Foggia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Foggia can pretend not to have heard.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Foggia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A conversation is coming this week. Foggia will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Foggia 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Foggia can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Foggia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The 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.
Foggia have made the call to FC Copenhagen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Hamza Haoudi is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Foggia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Zuccon signs something — a contract at Foggia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 May 2027
Andrea Gallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Felice D'Amico is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Tommasini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foggia 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 Andrea Gallo has written the date down.
Mamadou Coulibaly 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Federico Zuccon commits to Foggia for another 3 years.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo 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.
Francesco Rizzo 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 at Foggia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foggia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 5 on 66 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.
Christian Tommasini 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Foggia found something the first half had given no notice of, and Casarano could not hold what they had.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Oliva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marco Bevilacqua 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.
Successful dribbles: 41. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3 wins 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eric Biasiol will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Trapani made Foggia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sergio De Santis could afford to be generous.
Giuseppe Panico 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: Mohamed Seck. 3‑1 against Giugliano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Federico Romeo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.50. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felice D'Amico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sergio De Santis on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sergio De Santis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cavese? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Giugliano in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Eric Biasiol has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eric Biasiol will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia 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: Giuseppe Panico. 2‑1 against Sorrento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Giuseppe Panico was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.50. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Francesco Rizzo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Foggia told Christian Tommasini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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.
Three points for Foggia, 1‑0 the final word against Picerno in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Federico Romeo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo 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.
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
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.” Sergio De Santis, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia 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 Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Andrea Gallo.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Federico Zuccon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felice D'Amico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Filippo Berra
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Filippo Berra has come out of that comparison in the side, and Foggia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Giuseppe Panico 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 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A 1‑0 win over Salernitana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Andrea Gallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marked 7.66. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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.
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mario Ravasio. 1‑0 against Catania, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Oviszach is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Foggia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Three points for Foggia, 2‑0 the final word against Latina in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the Foggia support went home talking about one name.
The dugout8 Feb 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.” Sergio De Santis kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
7.57, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Foggia 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Federico Valietti has agreed terms with Lecce for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 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.
Siracusa will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Foggia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Mario Ravasio takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mario Ravasio provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Gianmarco Cangiano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Panico is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Panico is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It needed Giuseppe Panico to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Audace Cerignola, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.” Sergio De Santis chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia 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 Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 8, 26 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Mario Ravasio
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Gianmarco Cangiano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Panico is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Davide Petermann has his answer from Foggia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Foggia than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Foggia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7.61, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Giuseppe Panico 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 Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo 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.
Francesco Rizzo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Sergio De Santis kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
7.87, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Panico is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Giugliano had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gianmarco Cangiano is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 Giuseppe Panico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
“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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Enrico Oviszach trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gianmarco Cangiano. 2‑0 against Monopoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Giuseppe Panico was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Gallo, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 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.” Sergio De Santis, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Enrico Oviszach trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Out, 0‑5 to Napoli, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
A cup hiding at Napoli leaves Foggia explaining themselves
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mamadou Coulibaly scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Giuseppe Panico 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.
A 2‑1 win over Picerno, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Francesco Rizzo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“There 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Foggia than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Giuseppe Panico was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Foggia had all but put away. Cosenza will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
13 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sergio De Santis after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Federico Zuccon’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Foggia.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Panico is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Sergio De Santis, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
Looking aheadFoggia take on the side everybody is chasing
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 Felice D'Amico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 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 Sergio De Santis left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Felice D'Amico is on it.
Salernitana next, and one man in the Foggia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foggia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Foggia will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 Giuseppe Panico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Hamza Haoudi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
13 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Sergio De Santis 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. Crotone defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Latina next, and one man in the Foggia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Federico Zuccon 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marco Ferraro has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentino De Luca has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giacomo Ferrara is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriele Rinaldi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Three points for Foggia, 1‑0 the final word against Siracusa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Foggia 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.
Gianmarco Cangiano 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 Andrea Gallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Gallo, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 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 Sergio De Santis to a room that had heard them before.
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Foggia 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.
The dugout31 Aug 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.” Sergio De Santis chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Potenza? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Audace Cerignola next, and one man in the Foggia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gianluca Melis 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Andrea Gallo 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 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.
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.
Giuseppe Panico was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrea Gallo 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.
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 Foggia that is a harder question to answer.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Romano Caruso 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. Mattia Giuliani 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. Giacomo Bonetti 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. Flavio Ranieri 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Riccardo Brosco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Foggia have no good answer.
Riccardo Brosco 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 Filippo Berra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Giuseppe Panico’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
13 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.