14 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Juventus can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
13 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.
33 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
11 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dušan Vlahović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Tonali 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
8.65. 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
Player ratingsMorgan Rogers beats them one at a time
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Dušan Vlahović
“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 The request is on a desk at Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Juventus. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Assane Diao. 3‑1 against Parma, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
In brief
Player ratingsVinícius Júnior was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Derby days make names, and Assane Diao made his against Torino. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Cancellieri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
With 13 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Juventus and a story that will outlast his contract.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vinícius Júnior provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Tonali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Juventus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
6 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.
Gabriel Martinelli 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.
“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 Juventus know it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
30 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Juventus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Cancellieri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
In brief
SquadNicolò Rovella falls out with a teammate over standards
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
13 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vinícius Júnior wants continental football; whether Juventus can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Derby days make names, and Morgan Rogers made his against Inter. 3‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal that would have taken Gabriel Martinelli to Napoli has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Juventus with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 25 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Vinícius Júnior 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.
28 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gabriel Martinelli 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Sandro Tonali was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Cremonese will make the call about Matteo Cancellieri this week. Juventus have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at Juventus will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I watch every Juventus game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pescara runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
The dugoutLoïs Openda knocks on the manager’s door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vinícius Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Assane Diao was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Juventus 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.
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 Assane Diao has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutJosh Doig asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Juventus are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vinícius Júnior 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 name of Destiny Elimoghale has come up in conversations Juventus were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nobody at Juventus will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Juventus, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nicolò Milia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The deal that would have taken Romano Schmid to Cremonese has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Juventus with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Juventus can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Vinícius Júnior and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
Juventus asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
103 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tijjani Noslin has, at Juventus, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Juventus training over how hard people work
Juventus have gone to Paris Saint-Germain with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Liverpool did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $89.9M for Sandro Tonali, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cremonese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Empoli paid $7.1M and Juventus took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
With 13 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Juventus have paid $146.2M for Morgan Rogers, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The offer went to Liverpool 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Juventus offered $40.3M; Napoli 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stade Brestois waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
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.
$146.2M on the table at Chelsea. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Juventus will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
10 seasons and 405 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Assane Diao and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Juventus and a story that will outlast his contract.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Juventus can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Something was said to Alexis Mac Allister and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dušan Vlahović signs something — a contract at Juventus or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Juventus have no good answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Udinese; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Juventus pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
26 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
9 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Juventus heard it as anything else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Juventus can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Assane Diao and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadWords at Juventus training over how hard people work
8 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.
99 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventus have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Boubacar Kamara scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Assane Diao was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
25 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vinícius Júnior provided it, and the 9.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Juventus can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Juventus can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Juventus heard it as anything else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Assane Diao 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boubacar Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 12 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Juventus are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alberto Montanari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Martinelli provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
In brief
SquadWords at Juventus training over how hard people work
20 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Dušan Vlahović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
8 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.
77 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Juventus can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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 7.51 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gabriel Martinelli wants continental football; whether Juventus can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 9.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Juventus will try again when the window opens; AS Roma may not be selling by then.
5 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Manuel Locatelli reports back to Juventus with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
7.73, 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.
Assane Diao and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Juventus asked and Real Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$16.3M was the most the club would pay and Atalanta were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Livorno waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventus will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The shirt still fits. Mateo Pellegrino is back at Juventus, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Juventus asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Parma waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Juventus offered $21.3M; AC Milan 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.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Independiente; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Liverpool did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $15.6M for Alexis Mac Allister, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dušan Vlahović provided it, and the 9.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Juventus offered $19.9M; Napoli 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alexis Mac Allister is living that version at Juventus, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester City have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
$24.5M was the most the club would pay and Genoa were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Juventus have done the hard part with Atalanta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Boubacar Kamara 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.
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nicolò Rovella has, at Juventus, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lazio; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$11.5M on the table at Atalanta. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Juventus have had the benefit of it.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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 phone has started ringing about Riccardo Sottil again, and this time the name on the line is Banfield. Juventus are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan David Cabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Matteo Cancellieri obliged against Venezia. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Juventus.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Venezia will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gabriel Martinelli wants continental football; whether Juventus can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vélez waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against AS Roma; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Marked 8.69 — 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
Player ratingsGabriel Martinelli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
9 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Vinícius Júnior was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.71. 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.
12 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.
Assane Diao and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 11 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Assane Diao 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
10 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vinícius Júnior provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Derby days make names, and Gabriel Martinelli made his against Torino. 3‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
8 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.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Juventus supporters have already started telling it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vinícius Júnior wants continental football; whether Juventus can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
7 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.
Vinícius Júnior and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Torino next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Assane Diao
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
With 11 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boubacar Kamara 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ruben Loftus-Cheek has, at Juventus, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Assane Diao was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.53 — 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan David Cabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Assane Diao 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.64 — 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.
Marked 8.56 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boubacar Kamara 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Vinícius Júnior in the middle of it, and Cagliari unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
Player ratingsGabriel Martinelli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Derby days make names, and Gabriel Martinelli made his against Inter. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventus have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Vinícius Júnior 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Juventus support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he is 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Assane Diao was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Perugia moved on, Kelvin Yeboah reports back to Juventus, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 11 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
In brief
SquadDušan Vlahović falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Juventus 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan David Cabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Empoli for Mariano Troilo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boubacar Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 18 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
7 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Add another name to the list: Empoli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mariano Troilo. The answer from Juventus has not changed — yet.
99 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gabriel Martinelli wants continental football; whether Juventus can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marco Tiozzo Pagio had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Dušan Vlahović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Juventus 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Juventus have no good answer.
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
The dugoutCyril Ngonge knocks on the manager's door
BoardroomThe Juventus production line keeps running
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sampdoria had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Juventus can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan David Cabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gabriel Martinelli 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.
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.
Borussia Dortmund did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $86.2M for Gabriel Martinelli, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Vinícius Júnior 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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 terraces29 Jul 2030
Juventus spend $86.2M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $86.2M for Gabriel Martinelli, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
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.
Juventus have gone to Borussia Dortmund with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventus have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 phone has started ringing about Riccardo Paonessa again, and this time the name on the line is Sampdoria. Juventus are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Dušan Vlahović is on it.
8 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.
A Juventus player is an international champion, and the town will claim a share of a summer it had nothing to do with. 0 caps now, and a name that will be said differently for the rest of his career.
Juventus offered $133.1M; Liverpool 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Empoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Juventus is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Assane Diao was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The enquiry everybody at Juventus was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
Juventus offered $161.5M; Manchester City 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.
$124.7M on the table at Liverpool. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chase for Yunus Musah ended with $11.2M changing hands and AC Milan out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. André-Franck Zambo Anguissa has, at Juventus, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Assane Diao 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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
Juventus have gone to Manchester City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Juventus have paid $101.4M for Benoît Badiashile, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
$100.2M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
$11.2M settles it between the clubs for Yunus Musah
AC Milan have accepted the money. What Juventus do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Benoît Badiashile has just signed for Juventus, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Juventus, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Club Brugge 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.
$61.9M on the table at Atalanta. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
99 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Boubacar Kamara was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Juventus heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeff Ekhator will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$204.0M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Fiorentina did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $139.2M for Assane Diao, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Tottenham paid $164.4M and Juventus took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
$101.4M on the table at Chelsea. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Juventus asked and Crystal Palace said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Assane Diao is living that version at Juventus, and it tends to show in the first month.
The terraces17 Jun 2030
Supporters turn on the $204.0M sale of Kenan Yıldız
He is going to Manchester United, the club has $204.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Juventus have paid $214.9M for Vinícius Júnior, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Juventus have gone to Fiorentina with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fiorentina have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Barcelona for Kenan Yıldız was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The chase for Nathan Patterson ended with $16.3M changing hands and AC Milan out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nathan Patterson has just signed for Juventus, and for once the answer mattered.
With 12 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The offer went to Liverpool 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$16.3M on the table at AC Milan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Juventus have had the benefit of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juventus can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan David Cabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Michele Di Gregorio 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.
Juventus offered $520.0K; AC Milan 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.
Dušan Vlahović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randal Kolo Muani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
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.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Weston McKennie plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boubacar Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Juventus will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Juventus know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
8 goals in 31 games at Sambenedettese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Juventus updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Riccardo Sottil trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 99 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boubacar Kamara 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.
9 combined actions and 6.86. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
“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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randal Kolo Muani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juventus will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giovanni Fabbian scored, was marked 7.68, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Hellas Verona will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Juventus were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Loïs Openda 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.
Marked 8.49 — 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Juventus pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Kenan Yıldız 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ruben Loftus-Cheek has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Juventus have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
73 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
1 for Fabio Miretti, marked 7.88, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan David Cabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Juventus hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boubacar Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Weston McKennie.
In brief
The dugoutDušan Vlahović has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Josh Doig
72 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Kenan Yıldız 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Troilo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
With 11 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Kenan Yıldız and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventus is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Dušan Vlahović at his very best
70 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
69 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Lorenzo Palmisani.
Kenan Yıldız 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Alexander Isak was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Juventus had all but put away. Udinese will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
68 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Juventus offered $17.5M; Udinese 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Juventus will try again when the window opens; Fiorentina may not be selling by then.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
Juventus offered $39.7M; Crystal Palace 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Juventus will try again when the window opens; FC Nordsjaelland may not be selling by then.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Barcelona moved on, Alexander Isak reports back to Juventus, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
5 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.
“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.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's goal wins it for Juventus — 7.82
67 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have shaken hands with FC Nordsjaelland; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Crystal Palace 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.
Juventus have gone to Udinese with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
66 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Juventus asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexander Isak provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dušan Vlahović 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Juventus and Cagliari in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
65 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Juventus offered $81.2M; Crystal Palace 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AC Milan is saying, and nobody at Juventus is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Juventus have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Crystal Palace 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Juventus go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $14.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sassuolo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The fee is $3.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. AC Milan drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Josh Doig is living that version at Juventus, and it tends to show in the first month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeff Ekhator will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Alexander Isak
$171.6M on the table at Chelsea. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sassuolo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Juventus have gone to Avellino with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Juventus people have started saying his name in the past tense.
6 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.
Kenan Yıldız and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 1, 52 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.
Derby days make names, and Kenan Yıldız made his against Torino. 2‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Kenan Yıldız 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vasilije Adžić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventus the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. Juventus have their man.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Juventus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Vlahović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Juventus, and 2 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
63 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Juventus they have already started talking about him in the past tense.