From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Genoa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Feb 2027
8 unbeaten for Genoa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Genoa did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
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.
Match27 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Paulinho’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Genoa.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
One of those days for Paulinho
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Genoa
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Market
No place for Junior Messias in the plan
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Genoa
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market22 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Genoa
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Djibril Sow
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
A point taken on 95 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Genoa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 unbeaten for Genoa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Genoa did not have in the autumn.
Match13 Feb 2027
Pisa made Genoa work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Maxwel Cornet 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Genoa told Hamed Traoré something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Stephan El Shaarawy reports back to Genoa with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market8 Feb 2027
Pescara come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Genoa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Genoa
Federico Chiesa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Genoa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxwel Cornet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Feb 2027
It needed Paulinho to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against AS Roma, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Tiago Gabriel
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Colombo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Paulinho
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Tommaso Baldanzi does not fit this one
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
Genoa say no — this time
The offer from Vitoria Guimaraes for Stephan El Shaarawy 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Sebastian Otoa has left for Juventus in a $4.1M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 5 in, 4 out at Genoa
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Genoa
Federico Chiesa 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Hamed Traoré
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Genoa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Genoa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done: Paulinho joins from Palmeiras in a deal worth $38.1M. Now comes the harder part.
Match20 Jan 2027
Genoa through in the cup
A 3‑1 win over Atalanta, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market25 Jan 2027
Genoa spend $19.6M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $19.6M has been paid because Federico Chiesa is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Genoa can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Genoa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A day Paulinho will not forget
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Palmeiras, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Genoa have gone to Liverpool 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ittihad have kept their man, and Genoa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match16 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Genoa
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Genoa are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Baldanzi 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Milutin Osmajić
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Genoa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$38.1M on the table at Palmeiras. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Everton have kept their man, and Genoa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Genoa get their man
The chase for Tiago Gabriel ended with $9.8M changing hands and Lecce out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market11 Jan 2027
Alex Amorim has left for Juventus in a $7.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market11 Jan 2027
Genoa get their man
The chase for Nunzio Lella ended with $4.3M changing hands and Hellas Verona out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad11 Jan 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Genoa say no — this time
The offer from MFK Michalovce for Adam Žulevič 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Genoa's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Genoa has to find a result from somewhere.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Genoa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$4.3M settles it between the clubs for Nunzio Lella
Hellas Verona have accepted the money. What Genoa do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$9.8M on the table at Lecce. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Alex Amorim has come up in conversations Genoa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match2 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Genoa against Lazio
0‑1 to Lazio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxwel Cornet 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 dugout4 Jan 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 Romano Cipriani to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Genoa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Genoa may not be able to give Leo Østigård what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Østigård wants continental football; whether Genoa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamed Traoré, and the manager let it.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Genoa
Position 10, 25 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxwel Cornet 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Dec 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Alex Amorim, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market21 Dec 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Genoa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Genoa
Morten Frendrup and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Genoa do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Dec 2026
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Dec 2026
Genoa through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Virtus Entella, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Alex Amorim, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match12 Dec 2026
Genoa cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno 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 terraces14 Dec 2026
The crowd has taken to Mario Mitaj
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over Hellas Verona, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Dec 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
20 days out for Junior Messias after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Genoa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Genoa heard it as anything else.
Match5 Dec 2026
Three points for Genoa, 1‑0 the final word against Sassuolo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Lorenzo Colombo 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mario Mitaj
“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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Maxwel Cornet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Djibril Sow
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The dugout
Rodin Quiñónes gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Genoa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
28 days out for Junior Messias after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Genoa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match28 Nov 2026
It needed Lorenzo Colombo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Atalanta, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Market30 Nov 2026
The name of Alessandro Buongiorno keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Genoa say nothing, which says plenty.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hamed Traoré’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Genoa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Genoa
Morten Frendrup and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Cagliari made Genoa work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Genoa
Something was said to Alessandro Buongiorno and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Maxwel Cornet 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lorenzo Colombo. 2‑0 against Cremonese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties Genoa
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Maxwel Cornet 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.98 on the card, and the Genoa support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Nov 2026
Cup progress for Genoa
A 2‑0 win over Vis Pesaro, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match7 Nov 2026
Nowhere to hide for Genoa
0‑3 against AC Milan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Alex Amorim, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Genoa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Justin Bijlow wants to know where this is going
“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 Genoa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The crowd has taken to Alex Amorim
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Genoa
A 0‑3 beating by Juventus was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Genoa dressing room in a hurry
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxwel Cornet 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market26 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Morten Frendrup wants continental football; whether Genoa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Maxwel Cornet 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Genoa had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Genoa
15 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout26 Oct 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.” Romano Cipriani chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
79 days out for Junior Messias after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Genoa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Lorenzo Colombo takes the afternoon — 9.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lorenzo Colombo provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adam Žulevič is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Lorenzo Colombo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Genoa.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Marcandalli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Daniel Ndulue
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Ndulue will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Genoa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Hamed Traoré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A quiet fortnight at Genoa
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Match10 Oct 2026
Genoa caught on 90 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Udinese scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Maxwel Cornet 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Pisa made Genoa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.34. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Genoa.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Genoa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxwel Cornet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Romano Cipriani could afford to be generous.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Leo Østigård. Genoa will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Junior Messias out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Genoa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2026
Genoa taken apart
1‑4 to AS Roma, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Genoa
Morten Frendrup and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Mario Mitaj gets it from the manager
“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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
Inquest at Genoa
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Genoa
15 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 dugout28 Sep 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 1‑4 Romano Cipriani left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Genoa against Bologna
0‑1 to Bologna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Milutin Osmajić
“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.
Market21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxwel Cornet 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Stefano Sabelli
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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
AS Roma next, and one man in the Genoa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
Genoa say no — this time
The offer from Sassuolo for Mikael Egill Ellertsson 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Empoli is saying, and nobody at Genoa is enjoying the guessing.
Market14 Sep 2026
Daniel Ndulue has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Genoa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Genoa, 2‑1 the final word against Como in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Hamed Traoré 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Genoa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxwel Cornet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Marcandalli, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Hamed Traoré is off the mark for Genoa
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Market
Experience through the door at Genoa
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Genoa 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Empoli, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Genoa heard it as anything else.
Match5 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Genoa
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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match5 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Fiorentina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
A hiding for Genoa
Beaten 0‑4 by Inter, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Campobasso waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Genoa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Inquest at Genoa
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Genoa 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 manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Romano Cipriani left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Genoa will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
Genoa get their man
The chase for Alessandro Buongiorno ended with $35.2M changing hands and Napoli out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$25.0M was the most the club would pay and Porto 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Cesena pay $12.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Door shut on Patric
Genoa asked and Lazio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Genoa
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 terraces24 Aug 2026
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: Alessandro Buongiorno from Napoli for $35.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Djibril Sow gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Genoa have gone to Napoli 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Genoa offered $35.8M; Juventus 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
An offer of $25.0M for Gabri Veiga
Genoa have gone to Porto 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Genoa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Djibril Sow and Genoa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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
Stefano Minelli arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Stefano Minelli has, at Genoa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Ianis Dobrescu knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ianis Dobrescu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Djibril Sow has seen what the next man earns
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 Genoa that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$35.8M on the table at Juventus. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Kingsley Ehizibue would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kingsley Ehizibue is living that version at Genoa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market10 Aug 2026
Avellino come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Genoa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Morten Frendrup and Genoa agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Genoa
Morten Frendrup and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Genoa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Genoa heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stephan El Shaarawy and Genoa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Genoa 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Morten Frendrup trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.