From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
40 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Tiago Gabriel
Defensive actions: 34. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
27 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jasper Samooja is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Santiago Pierotti at his very best
Marked 9.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Lecce.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikola Štulić
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Pisa made Lecce work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Lecce
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lecce are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jarne Flies is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonino Gallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Wellington in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Lucas Rodríguez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.51. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lameck Banda, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Lucas Rodríguez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against AS Roma, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market14 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lecce know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
Christian Früchtl has left for Atalanta in a $2.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Bologna left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonino Gallo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Francesco Camarda at 18 — 8.26
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Francesco Camarda did not need any: 8.26, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lucas Rodríguez wants continental football; whether Lecce can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
Como take the points off Lecce
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Lecce
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Antonino Gallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Lecce
Wellington 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikola Štulić
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giacomo Caruso has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market24 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edoardo Schiavone has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market24 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luciano Cattaneo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Lecce have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Lecce
Antonino Gallo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kialonda Gaspar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Lecce pay Queretaro $7.9M for a proper upgrade
Queretaro did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $7.9M for Lucas Rodríguez, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wladimiro Falcone and Lecce agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Lecce
Antonino Gallo 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Lecce heard it as anything else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Rodríguez 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Lecce say no — this time
The offer from Huddersfield Town for Tiago Gabriel 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Antonino Gallo wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Lecce hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antonino Gallo and Lecce agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Lecce
Riccardo Sottil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Antonino Gallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Kialonda Gaspar’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.