Hellas Verona U18

Italian Serie B U18
18 May 2033
Wednesday
Process
355 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

16 May 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

16 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

David Vicari damages knee ligaments — 70 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.

Match

The season ends: position 18 for Hellas Verona

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 27 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Market

Idrissa Guèye raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Loan watch

18 goals on loan for Djibril Diagouraga

34 appearances at Potenza and the goals keep coming. Hellas Verona are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Idrissa Guèye at his very best

Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

In brief

Back issues
354 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

9 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

The knee: David Vicari out for 77 days

77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Alessandro Tosti has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hellas Verona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Diogo Leite signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diogo Leite commits to Hellas Verona for another 2 years.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona still without a manager

38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Djibril Diagouraga’s exile

17 goals in 33 games at Potenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Hellas Verona updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

353 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

2 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 45. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

The knee: David Vicari out for 84 days

84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Hellas Verona are in real trouble now

Position 18, 26 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

The terraces

Anger at Hellas Verona spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Valentín Díaz hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Diogo Leite stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Diogo Leite and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

352 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

25 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

13 matches without a win for Hellas Verona

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Hellas Verona are no longer polite ones.

Squad

David Vicari damages knee ligaments — 91 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.

Match

A hiding for Hellas Verona

Beaten 1‑4 by Torino, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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 ratings

Stefan Mitrović in the eights

A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Boardroom

124% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Hellas Verona

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.

The dugout

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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

351 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

18 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David Vicari

98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Loan watch

Djibril Diagouraga keeps scoring at Potenza

30 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hellas Verona against Frosinone

1‑2 to Frosinone, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marco Bleve

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bleve, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

350 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

11 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David Vicari

105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Alessandro Tosti has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hellas Verona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Hellas Verona dugout

10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Loan watch

Djibril Diagouraga keeps scoring at Potenza

29 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“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.

In brief

349 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

4 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Hellas Verona run out of patience with Interim Coach

The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.

Squad

David Vicari damages knee ligaments — 112 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Boardroom

An empty coaching office at Hellas Verona

There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Hellas Verona

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Boardroom

Interim Coach minds the shop at Hellas Verona

“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

348 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

28 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David Vicari

119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hellas Verona

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Player ratings

Dailon Livramento runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Rafik Belghali in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages eat 122% of everything Hellas Verona earn

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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hellas Verona dressing room was either.

In brief

347 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

21 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

David Vicari damages knee ligaments — 126 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 126 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Catanzaro take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Loan watch

Djibril Diagouraga keeps scoring at Potenza

26 appearances away from home and 12 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Home is on Chidera Oparaocha's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hellas Verona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

346 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

14 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: David Vicari out for 133 days

133 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 37. 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Valentín Díaz asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Market

Alessandro Tosti is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Idrissa Guèye in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hellas Verona against Cremonese

0‑1 to Cremonese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Home is on Brandon Theron's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hellas Verona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

In brief

345 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

7 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hellas Verona can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Hellas Verona

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Rafik Belghali signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rafik Belghali commits to Hellas Verona for another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigoris Kastanos 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.

Match

Lecce take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Marco Bleve 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.

Squad

Valentín Díaz wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hellas Verona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

In brief

344 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

28 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Hellas Verona

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hellas Verona is running low.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Antoine Bernede 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 120% of the Hellas Verona income

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Dailon Livramento

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dailon Livramento, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Idrissa Guèye was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. 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 ratings

Stefan Mitrović stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.31 on the card, and the Hellas Verona support went home talking about one name.

Squad

David Vicari signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Vicari commits to Hellas Verona for another 3 years.

In brief

343 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

21 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 35. 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.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Antoine Bernede and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

Adrien Tamèze will join Hellas Verona for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Adrien Tamèze has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Hellas Verona have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Match

Spezia take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Loan watch

11 goals on loan for Djibril Diagouraga

22 appearances at Potenza and the goals keep coming. Hellas Verona are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Facundo Carrizo

“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.

In brief

342 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

14 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Hellas Verona

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Venezia kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Hellas Verona will be asked about the last half hour all week.

The dugout

Kacper Sezonienko: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hellas Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Only the photograph left for Alessandro Tosti

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Tosti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Market

Piotr Zieliński raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Squad

Grigoris Kastanos 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.

Match

Venezia take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

Filippo Alessio will join Hellas Verona for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Filippo Alessio has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Hellas Verona have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Darío Espínola

Hellas Verona asked and AFC Wimbledon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

341 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

7 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 42. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Hellas Verona — 7.52

1 for Suat Serdar, marked 7.52, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona close the window on a squad of their own making

1 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Squad

Antoine Bernede out for 31 days

The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Antoine Bernede, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Transfer targets

Max Watters due for a Hellas Verona medical

Everything agreed with Barnsley, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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.

Transfer targets

Lazio tell Hellas Verona: Beto is not for sale

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.

In brief

340 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

31 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona agree $1.4M for Gabriele Di Giovannantonio

The clubs have shaken hands with Genoa; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Hellas Verona

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hellas Verona is running low.

Market

Only the photograph left for Serkan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Serkan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Adama Sidibeh

Hellas Verona asked and Stockport County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Rafik Belghali at his very best

Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

Boardroom

110% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Max Watters is in the works

Hellas Verona have made the call to Barnsley. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

339 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

24 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Isaac was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 31. 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.

Match

Stefan Mitrović breaks Virtus Entella hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Stefan Mitrović scored in the 85th minute, Virtus Entella had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Hellas Verona took the lot.

Market

Valentín Díaz puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigoris Kastanos 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.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Bassidy Sanogo

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Audace Cerignola have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Hellas Verona find a way past Virtus Entella

Virtus Entella made Hellas Verona work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.28. 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 dugout

Interim Coach has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

338 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

17 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Riccardo Callegaro puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Alessandro Tosti is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Transfer targets

Cagliari tell Hellas Verona: Valentino Albornoz is not for sale

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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Hellas Verona come up short against Carrarese

Carrarese left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Boardroom

Inquest at Hellas Verona

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.

Squad

Chidera Oparaocha wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hellas Verona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

In brief

337 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

10 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

4 goals for Idrissa Guèye

The match ball belongs to Idrissa Guèye, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Cruel end for Cesena as Hellas Verona pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Hellas Verona scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Bautista Arricau

Hellas Verona and Sassuolo have settled on $170.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

Hellas Verona say no — this time

The offer from Vis Pesaro for Lorenzo Garofalo 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 targets

No thanks: Jasper Gakpo rejects the move

Hellas Verona had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at PSV, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Hellas Verona find a way past Cesena

Cesena made Hellas Verona work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Idrissa Guèye was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.72. 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.

In brief

336 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

3 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Hellas Verona

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hellas Verona is running low.

Market

Jephthe Malanda asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Serkan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Serkan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Martin Frese signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Frese commits to Hellas Verona for another 2 years.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

500 appearances for Piotr Zieliński

500 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Piotr Zieliński

“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.

In brief

335 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

27 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Diogo Leite

“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.

Match

Padova take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“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.

Squad

Bookings catch up with Edoardo Iannoni

One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Hellas Verona will feel it on Saturday.

Market

Diogo Leite linked with a move away

The name of Diogo Leite keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hellas Verona say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Fallou Cham asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

334 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

20 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The cup run ends for Hellas Verona

0‑1 against Cagliari, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Valentín Díaz

There were 8 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 ratings

Both of them Edoardo Iannoni's — 8.36

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Valentín Díaz hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Idrissa Guèye raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Market

Alessandro Tosti is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Idrissa Guèye in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Hellas Verona end the wait against Sampdoria

It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

In brief

333 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

13 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Match

6 matches without a win for Hellas Verona

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Hellas Verona are no longer polite ones.

Match

6 matches without a goal for Hellas Verona

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Torino take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marco Bortolotti

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bortolotti, and the manager let it.

In brief

332 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

6 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Hellas Verona say no — this time

The offer from Nautico for Dailon Livramento 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.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Hellas Verona cannot find the net

5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Market

Only the photograph left for Serkan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Serkan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Antoine Bernede signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antoine Bernede and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antoine Bernede was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona agree a free transfer for Mattia Rigo

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Marco Bleve

“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.

In brief

331 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

29 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Match

Hellas Verona cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Mantova take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

Inquest at Hellas Verona

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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

No hiding place for Attila Osváth

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Attila Osváth, and the manager let it.

In brief

330 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

22 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Valentín Díaz puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Alessandro Tosti is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Hellas Verona

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.

Squad

Marco Bleve makes it 50 clean sheets

50 shut-outs in 296 appearances. A keeper’s career is counted in games where nothing happened, and none of it happened by accident.

Player ratings

Idrissa Guèye runs at them all day

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 dugout

Interim Coach on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Market

Diogo Leite linked with a move away

The name of Diogo Leite keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hellas Verona say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

329 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

15 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Dailon Livramento was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 31. 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.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Valentín Díaz: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hellas Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antoine Bernede was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hellas Verona against Cagliari

0‑1 to Cagliari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A muscle injury and 15 days out for Alfonso Greco

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hellas Verona will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Home is on Chidera Oparaocha's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hellas Verona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

328 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

8 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Denis Cazzadori sends Hellas Verona through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Denis Cazzadori obliged against Trento. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Hellas Verona.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

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.

Match

Hellas Verona win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Trento will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Market

Serkan is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Idrissa Guèye wants more than Hellas Verona are offering

“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.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Marco Bleve signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marco Bleve commits to Hellas Verona for another 2 years.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Player ratings

Kacper Sezonienko was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.02. 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.

In brief

327 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

1 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Piotr Zieliński raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Jacopo Lombardozzi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jacopo Lombardozzi commits to Hellas Verona for another 3 years.

Squad

Home is on Valentín Díaz's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hellas Verona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Player ratings

Rafik Belghali takes the honours

Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Hellas Verona had the best player on the pitch.

The dugout

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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

326 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

25 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Alessandro Tosti has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hellas Verona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marco Bleve

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bleve, and the manager let it.

Match

Lecce take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Suat Serdar

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.

In brief

325 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

18 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

4 matches without a win for Hellas Verona

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hellas Verona are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Hellas Verona had all but put away. Reggiana will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Player ratings

Idrissa Guèye takes the honours

Marked 7.55 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Hellas Verona had the best player on the pitch.

Match

Hellas Verona share the spoils with Reggiana

A 1‑1 draw with Reggiana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Interim Coach on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for Hellas Verona

Lecce top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Valentín Díaz

“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.

In brief

324 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

11 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The interim tag comes off Interim Coach

Hellas Verona interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.

Market

Serkan has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hellas Verona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Idrissa Guèye raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hellas Verona against Spezia

0‑1 to Spezia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Boardroom

89% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

Market

Luca Burungiu told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Luca Burungiu has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Hellas Verona.

In brief

323 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

4 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Diogo Leite signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diogo Leite commits to Hellas Verona for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Stefan Mitrović

Marked 8.40 — 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Sebastian Heredia-Randen

“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 ratings

One moment undoes Edoardo Iannoni

There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.

Squad

Edoardo Iannoni named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Edoardo Iannoni is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Edoardo Iannoni's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

In brief

322 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

27 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Edoardo Iannoni delivers — 7.99

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Edoardo Iannoni scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Market

Only the photograph left for Alessandro Tosti

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Tosti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Still no name above the door at Hellas Verona

Day 38 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Hellas Verona caught on 94 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Avellino scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Match

Hellas Verona share the spoils with Avellino

A 1‑1 draw with Avellino leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“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.

In brief

321 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

20 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Chidera Oparaocha

18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Edoardo Iannoni the difference as Hellas Verona beat Südtirol

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edoardo Iannoni. 2‑0 against Südtirol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Stefan Mitrović at his very best

Marked 8.62. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

Player ratings

Edoardo Iannoni 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Dailon Livramento at his very best

Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Rafik Belghali at his very best

Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Fallou Cham

“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.

In brief

320 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

13 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Chidera Oparaocha out for 25 days

25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Serkan has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hellas Verona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Idrissa Guèye wants more than Hellas Verona are offering

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Grigoris Kastanos 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.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Hellas Verona to Thomas Alberti

The clock did what Sassuolo would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Idrissa Guèye

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Chidera Oparaocha wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hellas Verona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Boardroom

86% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

In brief

319 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

6 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Chidera Oparaocha

32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Idrissa Guèye was unplayable

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.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Thomas Alberti

Hellas Verona and Sassuolo have settled on $330.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 16 in, 17 out at Hellas Verona

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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 dugout

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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Market

No place for Kacper Sezonienko in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kacper Sezonienko has his answer from Hellas Verona; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Valentín Díaz

“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.

In brief

318 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

30 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Chidera Oparaocha out for 39 days

39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Alessandro Tosti is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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 targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Gabriele Di Giovannantonio

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Genoa have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Hellas Verona dugout

10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Match

Stefan Mitrović’s goal not enough for Hellas Verona

Stefan Mitrović scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Cesena, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marco Bleve

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bleve, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Stefan Mitrović

Marked 8.20 — 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.

In brief

317 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

23 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Hellas Verona run out of patience with Interim Coach

The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Chidera Oparaocha

46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

An empty coaching office at Hellas Verona

There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.

Boardroom

Interim Coach minds the shop at Hellas Verona

“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.

Market

Serkan asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona bid $1.3M for Flavio Sulejmani

The offer went to Cosenza this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

As if he never left: Francesco Margiore returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Francesco Margiore is a Hellas Verona player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigoris Kastanos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

316 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

16 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Chidera Oparaocha out for 53 days

53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

$1.7M settles it between the clubs for Aël Belangote

Atalanta have accepted the money. What Hellas Verona do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Only the photograph left for Serkan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Serkan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Serkan signs for Atalanta while still at Hellas Verona

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Serkan has agreed terms with Atalanta for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Davide Apuzzo out for 47 days

The medical room confirms 47 days on the sidelines for Davide Apuzzo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 91% of the Hellas Verona income

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.

The dugout

When it matters, Stefan Mitrović plays

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.

In brief

315 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

9 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jephthe Malanda out for 44 days

44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Idrissa Guèye raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Piotr Zieliński and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Alfonso Barone at Hellas Verona

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alfonso Barone is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

The dugout

When it matters, Rafik Belghali plays

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.

Market

Still no ink between Hellas Verona and Djibril Diagouraga

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hellas Verona, another week without a signature from Djibril Diagouraga.

The dugout

Lorenzo Novati has been promised minutes

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 Lorenzo Novati has written the date down.

Market

The Dailon Livramento question follows Hellas Verona around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dailon Livramento’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

314 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

2 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jephthe Malanda

51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Terms done: Djibril Diagouraga is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ascoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Piotr Zieliński 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Piotr Zieliński and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years.

Market

Only the photograph left for Alessandro Tosti

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Tosti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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 targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Darius Cristian Groza

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Grigoris Kastanos 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

313 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

26 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jephthe Malanda

58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Thomas Alberti

Hellas Verona and Sassuolo have settled on $330.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

Hellas Verona turn down Libertad for Dailon Livramento

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Market

Eyes on Djibril Diagouraga again

The phone has started ringing about Djibril Diagouraga again, and this time the name on the line is Virtus Verona. Hellas Verona are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

A late step up for Chidera Oparaocha

At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

Isaac gets picked when it counts

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 Isaac is on it.

Market

The Idrissa Guèye question follows Hellas Verona around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Idrissa Guèye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

312 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

19 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jephthe Malanda damages knee ligaments — 65 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Alessandro Tosti has said yes to Palermo

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hellas Verona have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Valentín Díaz puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Darius Cristian Groza due for a Hellas Verona medical

Everything agreed with Bologna, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The step up is real for Ludovico Varali

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

103% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona ask about Robert Winkler

A loan enquiry to Borussia Dortmund: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

311 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

12 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jephthe Malanda out for 72 days

72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Dailon Livramento says no to Universidad de Chile

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dailon Livramento had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Terms done: Djibril Diagouraga is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Trapani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

Bari tell Hellas Verona: Fabio Abiuso is not for sale

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Alfonso Barone

At 19 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Rafik Belghali gets picked when it counts

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 Rafik Belghali is on it.

Market

Hellas Verona and Jacopo Lombardozzi are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

310 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

5 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jephthe Malanda damages knee ligaments — 79 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona bid $7.7M for Fabio Abiuso

The offer went to Bari this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona agree $960.0K for Luca Mazzeo

The clubs have shaken hands with Potenza; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Squad

A muscle injury and 17 days out for Marco Bleve

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hellas Verona will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Alessandro Anelli

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hellas Verona have done the hard part with Virtus Verona, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Market

Eyes on Dailon Livramento again

The phone has started ringing about Dailon Livramento again, and this time the name on the line is Universidad de Chile. Hellas Verona are listening politely and promising nothing.

In brief

309 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

28 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jephthe Malanda damages knee ligaments — 86 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.

Market

Attila Osváth puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Massimo Neri out for 47 days

The medical room confirms 47 days on the sidelines for Massimo Neri, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

Dailon Livramento has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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.

Market

The Idrissa Guèye question follows Hellas Verona around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Idrissa Guèye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Isaac 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 Isaac trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A door opens for Lorenzo Novati

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

308 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

21 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Piotr Zieliński out for 17 days

17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Djibril Diagouraga agrees terms with Modena

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hellas Verona people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Valentín Díaz asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

97% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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 dugout

Denis Cazzadori 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.

Market

Cremonese are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Hellas Verona will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

The dugout

Isaac has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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.

In brief

307 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

14 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Valentín Díaz: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hellas Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona to lose Ruben Akalé for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ruben Akalé 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Jephthe Malanda gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jephthe Malanda has just signed for Hellas Verona, and for once the answer mattered.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Tommaso Casadei

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cesena have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona try to borrow Prince Guèye

Stade Brestois have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Stefan Mitrović gets picked when it counts

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 Stefan Mitrović is on it.

In brief

306 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

7 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Hellas Verona say no — this time

The offer from Nimes for Dailon Livramento 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 targets

Emanuele Modugno due for a Hellas Verona medical

Everything agreed with Sambenedettese, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Transfer targets

No deal for Nicola Bagnolini at that price

Hellas Verona offered $910.0K; Parma 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Antoine Bernede and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Tommaso Ravaglioli

Hellas Verona asked and Lumezzane said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Martin Frese signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Frese and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years.

In brief

305 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

31 May 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Piotr Zieliński out for 38 days

38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Rafik Belghali in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigoris Kastanos 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 dugout

When it matters, Matías Magdaleno plays

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.

The dugout

Diego Vianello 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.

Market

The Idrissa Guèye question follows Hellas Verona around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Idrissa Guèye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

304 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

24 May 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Sebastian Heredia-Randen keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hellas Verona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Valentín Díaz asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

107% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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 dugout

When it matters, Isaac plays

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kacper Sezonienko

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kacper Sezonienko, and the manager let it.

Market

The Diogo Leite question follows Hellas Verona around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Diogo Leite’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

303 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

17 May 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Piotr Zieliński damages knee ligaments — 52 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.

Match

The season ends: position 8 for Hellas Verona

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 54 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Match

The drought breaks for Hellas Verona

8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Empoli were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Idrissa Guèye

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Stefan Mitrović sends Hellas Verona past Empoli

It finished 2‑1, and it was Stefan Mitrović’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hellas Verona.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Stefan Mitrović

Marked 8.33 — 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.

Squad

Chidera Oparaocha wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hellas Verona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

In brief

302 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

10 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Marco Bleve

There were 9 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.

Match

8 matches without a win for Hellas Verona

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Hellas Verona are no longer polite ones.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Hellas Verona

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hellas Verona can tell you which week it ends in.

Player ratings

Rafik Belghali runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigoris Kastanos 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.

Match

Hellas Verona come up short against Modena

Modena left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

301 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

3 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Piotr Zieliński out for 66 days

66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Matías Magdaleno asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Player ratings

Dailon Livramento beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Piotr Zieliński wants more than Hellas Verona are offering

“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.

Squad

Antoine Bernede stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Antoine Bernede and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Hellas Verona cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

In brief

300 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

26 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Piotr Zieliński damages knee ligaments — 73 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Diogo Leite

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diogo Leite, and the manager let it.

Match

Hellas Verona come up short against Spezia

Spezia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Boardroom

105% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

Squad

Alessandro Tosti signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Tosti and Hellas Verona agree another 3 years.

In brief

299 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

19 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Piotr Zieliński damages knee ligaments — 80 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grigoris Kastanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sebastian Heredia-Randen

“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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hellas Verona dressing room was either.

The dugout

When it matters, Isaac plays

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.

Market

The Diogo Leite story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diogo Leite signs something — a contract at Hellas Verona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

298 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

12 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Piotr Zieliński damages knee ligaments — 87 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Sebastian Heredia-Randen wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hellas Verona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Match

Antoine Bernede’s goal not enough for Hellas Verona

Antoine Bernede scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Mantova, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Marco Bleve

“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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Hellas Verona

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

297 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

5 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Piotr Zieliński out for 94 days

94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Sebastian Heredia-Randen puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Idrissa Guèye wants more than Hellas Verona are offering

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Marco Bleve signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Bleve and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hellas Verona cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Isaac

“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.

In brief

296 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

29 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Piotr Zieliński damages knee ligaments — 101 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Hellas Verona

0‑3 against Bari, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

Matías Magdaleno asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Squad

Piotr Zieliński in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Grigoris Kastanos 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 112% of everything Hellas Verona earn

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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Hellas Verona

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

295 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

22 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Piotr Zieliński damages knee ligaments — 108 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Catanzaro take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Idrissa Guèye

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sebastian Heredia-Randen

“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.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Hellas Verona 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.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“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 dugout

A promise honoured for Sebastian Heredia-Randen

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hellas Verona told Sebastian Heredia-Randen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

  • Looking ahead Hellas Verona take on the side everybody is chasing
  • The dugout When it matters, Isaac plays
  • Market Serkan told to find a new club
294 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

15 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Piotr Zieliński out for 115 days

115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Edoardo Iannoni pops up at the right end — 7.67

7.67, 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Edoardo Iannoni the difference as Hellas Verona beat Cremonese

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edoardo Iannoni. 2‑1 against Cremonese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match

The drought breaks for Hellas Verona

5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Cremonese were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

Chidera Oparaocha wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hellas Verona know it.

The dugout

Interim Coach has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

293 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

8 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Hellas Verona

A 1‑4 beating by Juve Stabia was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Valentín Díaz puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

The wait goes on for Hellas Verona

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Diogo Leite stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Diogo Leite and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigoris Kastanos 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 dugout

No hiding place for Diogo Leite

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diogo Leite, and the manager let it.

In brief

292 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

1 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Matías Magdaleno asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Match

No end in sight to Hellas Verona's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hellas Verona has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoine Bernede 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.

Match

6 unbeaten for Hellas Verona

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Hellas Verona did not have in the autumn.

Boardroom

112% of the income goes out in wages at Hellas Verona

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.

In brief

291 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

23 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Piotr Zieliński

136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Antoine Bernede 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.

Squad

Another clean sheet for Marco Bleve

15 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Marco Bleve has given nobody the chance.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Rafik Belghali was the difference for Hellas Verona

Marked 7.57. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hellas Verona dressing room was either.

The dugout

Isaac has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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 dugout

Alessandro Tosti 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.

In brief

290 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

16 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

6 saves: Marco Bleve was the team

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.

Player ratings

Vintage Grigoris Kastanos — 7.89

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.89, and nobody on the pitch better.

The dugout

Kacper Sezonienko keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hellas Verona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Both jobs done by Rafik Belghali — 7.49

A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.49, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Piotr Zieliński

“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.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for Idrissa Guèye

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.

Match

Late, late show earns Hellas Verona a point

Minute 85, against Venezia, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

In brief

289 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

9 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

So close: Matías Magdaleno’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Braga moved on, Matías Magdaleno reports back to Hellas Verona, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

A move Sebastian Heredia-Randen 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. Sebastian Heredia-Randen is living that version at Hellas Verona, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Marco Bleve 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Piotr Zieliński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Getting past Marco Bleve has become the hardest job in the division

14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.

Boardroom

Alexandr Shmarov will join Hellas Verona for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alexandr Shmarov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Hellas Verona have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Player ratings

Fallou Cham stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.40 on the card, and the Hellas Verona support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

Rafik Belghali gets picked when it counts

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 Rafik Belghali is on it.

In brief

288 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

2 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Antoine Bernede leads the rout of Südtirol

3‑0, and Antoine Bernede took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hellas Verona tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Matías Magdaleno puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Both of them Antoine Bernede's — 8.34

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.34, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 1 signed and 4 gone

That is the business done at Hellas Verona 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.

Market

Piotr Zieliński raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Market

Matías Magdaleno attracts admirers

The name of Matías Magdaleno has come up in conversations Hellas Verona were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Piotr Zieliński 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Another clean sheet for Marco Bleve

13 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Marco Bleve has given nobody the chance.

In brief

287 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

11 saves: Marco Bleve was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

The small margins put Hellas Verona out

Out, 2‑7 to Inter, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Idrissa Guèye

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The terraces

A cup hiding at Inter leaves Hellas Verona explaining themselves

2-7, 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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Martin Frese yet — 8.11

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

9 goals as Hellas Verona and Inter go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Hellas Verona and Inter, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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.

Transfer targets

Guidonia Montecelio tell Hellas Verona: Ho Sy Duc is not for sale

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.

In brief

286 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

19 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Marco Bortolotti breaks a bone — 18 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Edoardo Iannoni goes up and wins it — 7.99

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.

Market

Denis Intrabartolo asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Transfer targets

Mattia Mercogliano turns down Hellas Verona

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Triestina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona beat the market to Matteo Antignani from Juve Stabia

Juve Stabia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Matteo Antignani has pre-agreed a move to Hellas Verona, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Denis Franchi

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ternana have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

285 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

12 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 35. 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.

Market

Tomás Sives agrees terms with Avellino

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hellas Verona people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Player ratings

Idrissa Guèye scores twice — 9.14

Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Marco Bortolotti breaks a bone — 25 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

Piotr Zieliński is a medical away from Hellas Verona

The deal with Inter is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Market

Lorenzo Novati asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

Sebastian Heredia-Randen will join Hellas Verona for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Sebastian Heredia-Randen has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Hellas Verona have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

In brief

284 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

5 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Marco Bortolotti breaks a bone — 32 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Tomás Sives hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Martin Frese honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Hellas Verona had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Tomás Sives

“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.

Match

The half-term report on Hellas Verona

Position 5, 32 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

283 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

29 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

39 days out for Marco Bortolotti after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hellas Verona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Rafik Belghali

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Stefan Mitrović at his very best

Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Idrissa Guèye at his very best

Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

Match

Hellas Verona rescue it on 87 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Modena had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Squad

Getting past Marco Bleve has become the hardest job in the division

9 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.

Match

Honours even between Hellas Verona and Modena

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

  • The dugout Marco Bleve has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Kacper Sezonienko
282 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

22 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Matías Magdaleno has said yes to America de Cali

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hellas Verona have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

46 days out for Marco Bortolotti after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hellas Verona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Kacper Sezonienko keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hellas Verona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Marco Bleve in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Idrissa Guèye

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Edoardo Iannoni the difference as Hellas Verona beat Reggiana

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edoardo Iannoni. 1‑0 against Reggiana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović in the eights

A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Edoardo Iannoni in the eights

A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

281 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

15 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Cup progress for Hellas Verona

A 4‑0 win over Juve Stabia, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Squad

A fracture rules Marco Bortolotti out for 53 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hellas Verona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Dailon Livramento's — 8.34

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.34, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

America de Cali join the queue for Matías Magdaleno

Add another name to the list: America de Cali have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matías Magdaleno. The answer from Hellas Verona has not changed — yet.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antoine Bernede was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

One of their own: Diego Vianello

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.

Match

Spezia take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

280 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

8 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

60 days out for Marco Bortolotti after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hellas Verona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Matías Magdaleno asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Player ratings

Suat Serdar pops up at the right end — 7.75

7.75, 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Hellas Verona

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hellas Verona are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Idrissa Guèye in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Suat Serdar signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Suat Serdar commits to Hellas Verona for another 2 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Tomás Sives

“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.

In brief

279 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

67 days out for Marco Bortolotti after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hellas Verona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

After 9 games, Hellas Verona finally taste it again

The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Mantova; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Antoine Bernede 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.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Hellas Verona come up short against Mantova

Mantova left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Hellas Verona 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.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Marco Bleve shuts the door again

8 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.

In brief

278 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

24 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Facundo Carrizo damages knee ligaments — 18 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Marco Bortolotti out for 74 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hellas Verona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Hellas Verona

The unbeaten run reaches 9. 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Rafik Belghali

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Idrissa Guèye wants more than Hellas Verona are offering

“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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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 dugout

Marco Bleve has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hellas Verona dressing room was either.

In brief

277 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

17 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Facundo Carrizo out for 25 days

25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Marco Bortolotti breaks a bone — 81 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Hellas Verona refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 25 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Whatever happens, Hellas Verona do not lose

8 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Fallou Cham

“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.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Hellas Verona had all but put away. Bari will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

In brief

276 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

10 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Facundo Carrizo damages knee ligaments — 32 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Marco Bortolotti out for 88 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hellas Verona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Cruel end for Catanzaro as Hellas Verona pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Hellas Verona scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Squad

Marco Bleve stands alone

8 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.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Dailon Livramento: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hellas Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Hellas Verona

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.

Squad

Idrissa Guèye in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Hellas Verona see off Catanzaro

Three points for Hellas Verona, 1‑0 the final word against Catanzaro in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

275 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

3 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Facundo Carrizo damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.

Match

Hellas Verona march on in the cup

Trento are out and Hellas Verona go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Squad

A fracture rules Marco Bortolotti out for 95 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hellas Verona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Kacper Sezonienko beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Matías Magdaleno asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Facundo Carrizo has a hand in both — 7.98

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

Squad

Martin Frese signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Frese and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Hellas Verona

The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

In brief

274 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

27 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 51. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Marco Bleve in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Denis Cazzadori signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Cazzadori and Hellas Verona agree another 3 years.

Squad

Valentín Díaz wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hellas Verona know it.

The dugout

When it matters, Marco Bleve plays

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.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mattia Buniotto

“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.

Market

The Diogo Leite talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hellas Verona know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

273 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

20 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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 ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Rafik Belghali

7.25, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Hellas Verona had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

Rafik Belghali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hellas Verona dressing room was either.

Match

Hellas Verona draw a blank against Padova

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Padova defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

The dugout

Matías Magdaleno asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Looking ahead

Edoardo Iannoni goes back to face Juve Stabia

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Edoardo Iannoni’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hellas Verona needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

272 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

13 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 31. 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 ratings

Up for the corner, and Edoardo Iannoni delivers — 7.76

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Edoardo Iannoni scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Market

Denzel Gato hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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.

Match

Edoardo Iannoni sends Hellas Verona past Sampdoria

It finished 2‑1, and it was Edoardo Iannoni’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hellas Verona.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Tomás Sives at his very best

Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hellas Verona.

The dugout

Isaac 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.

Squad

Hellas Verona are still strangers to each other

5 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.

In brief

271 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

6 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefan Mitrović

Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Matías Magdaleno hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Martin Frese yet — 7.80

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Idrissa Guèye raises the bar for Hellas Verona

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hellas Verona heard it as anything else.

Squad

Antoine Bernede stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Antoine Bernede and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafik Belghali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Idrissa Guèye sends Hellas Verona past Venezia

It finished 2‑0, and it was Idrissa Guèye’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hellas Verona.

Squad

Marco Bleve reaches 200 appearances

200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

In brief

270 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

29 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 43. 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Avellino take the points off Hellas Verona

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Giuseppe Bonetti out for 26 days

The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Giuseppe Bonetti, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Match

The run is over for Hellas Verona

4 matches without defeat, and then Avellino. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

The dugout

No hiding place for Edoardo Iannoni

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edoardo Iannoni, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Marco Bleve gets picked when it counts

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 Marco Bleve is on it.

In brief

269 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hellas Verona run riot against Südtirol

5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

A brace, and Rafik Belghali takes the afternoon — 8.39

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafik Belghali provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Grigoris Kastanos, 33, rolls back the years — 7.94

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hellas Verona right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Edoardo Iannoni delivers — 7.79

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Edoardo Iannoni scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Idrissa Guèye signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Idrissa Guèye and Hellas Verona agree another 5 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hellas Verona and Südtirol in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoine Bernede is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

  • Player ratings Idrissa Guèye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Rafik Belghali has become a man the manager trusts
268 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Grigoris Kastanos, 33, rolls back the years — 7.88

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Denzel Gato hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Hellas Verona 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.

Player ratings

Stefan Mitrović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Marco Bleve 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.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Fallou Cham signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fallou Cham and Hellas Verona agree another 4 years.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona beat the market to Duván Sevillano from Udinese

Udinese will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Duván Sevillano has pre-agreed a move to Hellas Verona, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Match

Hellas Verona see off Virtus Entella

Three points for Hellas Verona, 1‑0 the final word against Virtus Entella in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

267 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Gabriele Molinari damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

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.

Match

Hellas Verona tear Carrarese apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Carrarese, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tomás Sives

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Both of them Idrissa Guèye's — 8.91

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Matías Magdaleno puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Stefan Mitrović signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Mitrović and Hellas Verona agree another 4 years.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Paolo Doneda deal

Hellas Verona ran out of time with AC Milan. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Marco Bleve and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

266 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriele Molinari

26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Tomás Sives hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona agree $2.1M for Paolo Doneda

The clubs have shaken hands with AC Milan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Jesper Lindstrøm deal

Hellas Verona ran out of time with AC Milan. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 18 signed and 13 gone

That is the business done at Hellas Verona 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.

Market

Hellas Verona get their man

The chase for Valentín Díaz ended with $860.0K changing hands and Atalanta out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

Rafik Belghali in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Davide Apuzzo 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. Davide Apuzzo has, at Hellas Verona, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Player ratings

Rafik Belghali was unplayable

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.

In brief

265 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriele Molinari

33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona agree $860.0K for Valentín Díaz

The clubs have shaken hands with Atalanta; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Djibril Diagouraga asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Flavio Di Marzio

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Flavio Di Marzio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hellas Verona the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Alessandro Tosti is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Boardroom

7 academy graduates step up at Hellas Verona

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Market

Angelo Basile steps up from the Hellas Verona academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Angelo Basile 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.

In brief

264 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

18 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona agree $12.3M for Jesper Lindstrøm

The clubs have shaken hands with AC Milan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Squad

Gabriele Molinari damages knee ligaments — 40 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.

Market

Not going: Tomás Sives stays at Hellas Verona

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Avellino had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

The dugout

Mattia Buniotto keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hellas Verona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Matteo Mussola hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Idrissa Guèye wants more than Hellas Verona are offering

“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.

Squad

Real improvement from Marco Bortolotti at Hellas Verona

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marco Bortolotti is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Idrissa Guèye in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Belghali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

263 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

11 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Flavio Di Marzio out for 23 days

23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Matías Magdaleno asks to leave Hellas Verona

“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.

Squad

Hellas Verona lose Stefan Mitrović

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Real improvement from Lorenzo Garofalo at Hellas Verona

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Garofalo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Willange Pembélé

Hellas Verona asked and Nimes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

The Tomás Sives conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Avellino will make the call about Tomás Sives this week. Hellas Verona have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona try to borrow Patrick Baumgartner

Rapid Wien have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Rafik Belghali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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.

In brief

262 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

4 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Di Marzio

30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hellas Verona can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Transfer targets

Jesper Lindstrøm due for a Hellas Verona medical

Everything agreed with AC Milan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Diogo Leite stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Diogo Leite and Hellas Verona agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Real improvement from Diego Vianello at Hellas Verona

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Diego Vianello is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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 targets

Lokomotiva Zagreb tell Hellas Verona: Maksim Podliesnyi is not for sale

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 dugout

Denis Cazzadori 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.

The dugout

Marco Bleve has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hellas Verona 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.

In brief

261 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

28 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Di Marzio

37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Hellas Verona

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hellas Verona is running low.

Market

Flavio Di Marzio has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hellas Verona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Marco Bleve 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.

Squad

Alessandro Tosti is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Transfer targets

Universitatea Craiova tell Hellas Verona: Alexandru Glodean is not for sale

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.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona ask about Ethan Gold

A loan enquiry to Dinamo Bucharest: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

When it matters, Isaac plays

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.

In brief

260 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Di Marzio

44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hellas Verona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Fallou Cham: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hellas Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Valentín Díaz is a medical away from Hellas Verona

The deal with Atalanta is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Market

Matteo Mussola hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hellas Verona can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Squad

Marco Bortolotti is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

A row about effort at Hellas Verona

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antoine Bernede was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Francesco Cereser

Hellas Verona asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona try to borrow Steven Fisher

Tottenham have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

259 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

14 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Flavio Di Marzio damages knee ligaments — 51 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.

Market

Terms done: Flavio Di Marzio is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atalanta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hellas Verona is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Matías Magdaleno puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Hellas Verona count the cost of losing Stefan Mitrović

42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Tempers go at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Lorenzo Garofalo at Hellas Verona

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Garofalo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Alexandre Tverdohlebov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Farense have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Isaac

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Isaac, and the manager let it.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Luken Flores is in the works

Hellas Verona have made the call to Real Madrid. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

258 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

7 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Flavio Di Marzio damages knee ligaments — 58 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.

Boardroom

Hellas Verona put Interim Coach on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

The dugout

Matías Magdaleno says Hellas Verona went back on their word

“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.

Transfer targets

Tomás Ferrer is a medical away from Hellas Verona

The deal with Barcelona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Konstantinos Varesis

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Hellas Verona training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoine Bernede 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.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona rebuffed over Marco Pissardo

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and Hellas Verona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Alexandre Tverdohlebov is in the works

Hellas Verona have made the call to Farense. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

257 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

30 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Flavio Di Marzio damages knee ligaments — 65 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Tomás Sives agrees terms with Vitória

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hellas Verona people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Hellas Verona

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hellas Verona is running low.

The dugout

Tomás Sives says Hellas Verona went back on their word

“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.

Market

Denzel Gato puts it in writing

“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 Hellas Verona, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Idrissa Guèye 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 Hellas Verona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hellas Verona

Rafik Belghali 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.

Market

Matías Magdaleno attracts admirers

The name of Matías Magdaleno has come up in conversations Hellas Verona were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Antoine Bernede 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

256 Edition

The Hellas Verona Herald

23 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Flavio Di Marzio out for 72 days

72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hellas Verona lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Not going: Flavio Di Marzio stays at Hellas Verona

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Atalanta had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Transfer targets

Hellas Verona agree $610.0K for Juan Pablo Noce

The clubs have shaken hands with Fiorentina; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

The dugout

Isaac: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hellas Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Hellas Verona turn down Huachipato for Tomás Sives

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A falling-out at Hellas Verona

Idrissa Guèye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rafik Belghali 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Maksim Podliesnyi

Hellas Verona asked and Lokomotiva Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Marco Pissardo is in the works

Hellas Verona have made the call to LOSC Lille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief