The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lecco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Lecco had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Juve Stabia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Davide Grassini 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.
Anas Alaoui 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 name of Darius Cristian Groza has come up in conversations Lecco were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noah Lovisa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 The request is on a desk at Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lecco asked and Empoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Lecco will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Mallamo 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lecco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Lecco will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manuel Leal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Joaquin Dalmasso has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Edoardo Zanaga 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Lecco has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Edoardo Zanaga 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriel Pellegrino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Lecco would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giuseppe Battimelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Davide Grassini 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Edoardo Zanaga has come out of that comparison in the side, and Lecco have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
SquadWords at Lecco training over how hard people work
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. Lecco will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Anas Alaoui has moved up it.
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco 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 Darius Cristian Groza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquin Dalmasso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Lecco have no good answer.
41 points in position 8: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Noah Lovisa
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 41 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Marked 6.80 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lecco pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giuseppe Battimelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lecco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darius Cristian Groza 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lecco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lecco, another week without a signature from Gabriel Pellegrino.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Mattia Ruggiero left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Battistini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lecco, another week without a signature from Nicolò Tondi.
3 goals in 17 games at Samsunspor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Lecco updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Minute 88, against AlbinoLeffe, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darius Cristian Groza 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lecco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Pellegrino. 2‑1 against Novara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Davide Grassini 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lecco told Gabriel Pellegrino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darius Cristian Groza 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mattia Ruggiero, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Davide Grassini 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Edoardo Zanaga is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marcos Carrera has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Edoardo Zanaga, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Edoardo Zanaga has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Giuseppe Battimelli 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Ruggiero on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marcos Carrera 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lecco pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mattia Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Lecco will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lecco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Lecco and Alcione Milano, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
8.53. 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.
Lecco ran out of time with Sassuolo. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
100 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.
Sassuolo have accepted the money. What Lecco do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Lecco close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Alessandro Guarnone 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.
Lecco ran out of time with Pescara. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lecco have done the hard part with Pescara, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The goal that put Carpi ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Lecco equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Monopoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lecco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Edoardo Zanaga, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
$210.0K on the table at Lazio. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Lecco asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 19 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.
8.61. 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.
Lecco and Pescara have settled on $70.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$210.0K was the most the club would pay and Lazio 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.
Davide Grassini 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lecco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Sassuolo have accepted the money. What Lecco do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer went to Lazio 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.
Lecco asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Lecco, and 3 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Antonio Metlika has his answer from Lecco; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Lecco prefer.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8.29. 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.
Position 6, 27 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Mallamo 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.
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.
“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 Lecco know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mattia Ruggiero, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Edoardo Zanaga provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Dolomiti Bellunesi tried to reorganise, Lecco did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Antonio Metlika scored in the 87th minute, AlbinoLeffe had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Lecco took the lot.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Davide Grassini 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.
“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 Lecco, and 1 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Davide Grassini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Pellegrino has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fabrizio Lombardo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mario Fortunato 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Samuele De Luca is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Achille Fiorentino is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Giuseppe Battimelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Mattia Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Novara next, and one man in the Lecco dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I watch every Lecco game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samsunspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marcos Carrera 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lecco, another week without a signature from Noah Lovisa.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Lecco has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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 Lecco, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Mallamo 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Luca Marrone is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad8 Nov 2027
5 new faces, and Lecco are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Alessandro Guarnone 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mattia Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lecco 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 Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Lecco game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samsunspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Ruggiero on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Noah Lovisa
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Davide Grassini 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 had been thinking. Andrea Mallamo 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
“I watch every Lecco game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Arzignano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Mattia Ruggiero left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Manuel Leal
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Marcos Carrera 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mattia Ruggiero was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Lecco dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Antonio Metlika scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Edoardo Zanaga 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.
“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 Lecco, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lecco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Lecco offered $480.0K; 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.
Lecco asked and Benevento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
15 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Ruggiero on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Torino died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Lecco until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer went to Udinese 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.
Davide Grassini 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lecco, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Juve Stabia is saying, and nobody at Lecco is enjoying the guessing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lecco have done the hard part with Torino, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Lecco know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mantova have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Lecco and Juve Stabia have settled on $2.3M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Thomas Vettorel has gone, the accounts have $510.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Lecco offered $1.9M; Modena 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.
The deal with Giugliano is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Lecco moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Mattia Ruggiero, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Juve Stabia paid $510.0K and Lecco took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Lecco asked and Benevento 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 words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Audace Cerignola for Thomas Vettorel 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 offer went to Modena 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. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$480.0K was the most the club would pay and Udinese 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.
Alain Taho was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $850.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 97 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have shaken hands with Inter; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Udinese 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.
Lecco asked and Venezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lecco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cittadella waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lecco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Edoardo Zanaga 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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lecco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Udinese 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.
The offer went to Altamura 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.
$84.0K was the most the club would pay and Salernitana were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Udinese have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Mallamo 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.
Giuseppe Battimelli 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 words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Lecco asked and Juve Stabia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$480.0K was the most the club would pay and Udinese 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Darius Cristian Groza from Bologna for $440.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Davide Grassini 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.
Add another name to the list: Cittadella have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thomas Vettorel. The answer from Lecco has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Mallamo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Darius Cristian Groza is 19, and Lecco have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The deal with Bologna is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$480.0K on the table at Udinese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$62.0K on the table at Altamura. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marcos Carrera has, at Lecco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Carlo Usai was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $260.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
Add another name to the list: Blackburn Rovers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Anas Alaoui. The answer from Lecco has not changed — yet.
The deal with Cagliari is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Audace Cerignola moved on, Thomas Vettorel reports back to Lecco, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“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 Lecco know it.
Anas Alaoui 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.
$170.0K was the most the club would pay and AC Milan 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Agustín Muto has just signed for Lecco, and for once the answer mattered.
The words a physio says slowly. 143 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lecco 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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
$260.0K on the table at Cagliari. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Lecco know it.
$170.0K 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.
Lecco asked and Catania 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 phone has started ringing about Joaquin Dalmasso again, and this time the name on the line is Cittadella. Lecco are listening politely and promising nothing.
152 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lecco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lecco asked and Bologna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davide Voltan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vis Pesaro waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lecco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Atalanta have accepted the money. What Lecco do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
7 goals in 29 games at Sorrento — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Lecco updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lecco have done the hard part with Udinese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Udinese have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Joaquin Dalmasso has come up in conversations Lecco were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Davide Voltan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Lecco has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thomas Vettorel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Position 7, 43 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guillaume Furrer signs something — a contract at Lecco or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Guillaume Furrer has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
Matteo Casarotto 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.
Anas Alaoui 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Anas Alaoui has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Davide Voltan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Marrone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Lecco 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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Lecco the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Position 7 on 43 points, with the season drifting toward the summer. It is the safest place in football and the hardest one to sell a season ticket from.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lecco pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Ruggiero after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lecco pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Damiano Basili’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lecco needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Position 5, 43 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Giulio Manetti 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.
“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 Lecco know it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Mattia Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Matteo Arena has written the date down.
They sit in position 8 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Matteo Battistini plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
8.62. 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.
Giulio Manetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mattia Ruggiero, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
6 goals in 27 games at Sorrento — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Lecco updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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 Lecco know it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Carpi had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lecco told Stefano Bonaiti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Noah Lovisa
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lecco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joaquin Dalmasso is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lecco told Nicola Fasan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Lecco is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Noah Lovisa 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lecco has been clear about where Andrea Mallamo stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Ruggiero after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lecco pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
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.
Lecco ran out of time with Casarano. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Giulio Manetti 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Mattia Ruggiero could afford to be generous.
Alcione Milano next, and one man in the Lecco dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lecco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Lecco will try again when the window opens; Renate may not be selling by then.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Mattia Ruggiero left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Giulio Manetti is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutDavide Voltan is still being punished for one mistake
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lecco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lecco and Renate have settled on $91.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Lecco until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Casarano is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Marked 9.56 — 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.
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lecco and Atalanta have settled on $450.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Lecco asked and Venezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Cittadella had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lecco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Matteo Casarotto 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Lecco have made the call to Frosinone. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mattia Ruggiero kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lecco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Jacopo Furlan again, and this time the name on the line is Vis Pesaro. Lecco are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer went to Atalanta 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.
“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 Lecco know it.
Lecco asked and Hellas Verona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Anas Alaoui again, and this time the name on the line is Guidonia Montecelio. Lecco are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Noah Lovisa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.29, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Minute 90, against Pergolettese, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Half the programme played, position 6, 22 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It needed Matteo Casarotto to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Pergolettese, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Davide Voltan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lecco told Gabriel Pellegrino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Noah Lovisa
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Pergolettese next, and one man in the Lecco dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lecco know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matteo Casarotto. 1‑0 against AlbinoLeffe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mattia Ruggiero, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Lecco have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
11 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Minute 90, against Novara, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.97 on the card, and the Lecco support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Jacopo Furlan
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jacopo Furlan has come out of that comparison in the side, and Lecco have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Ruggiero on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
In brief
The dugoutLuca Marrone knocks on the manager's door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nicolò Tondi 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Ruggiero on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Marrone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Carpi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lecco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 6.87 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Lecco will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Lecco is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Giulio Manetti has come out of that comparison in the side, and Lecco have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Davide Voltan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mattia Ruggiero was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Lecco dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anas Alaoui, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Lecco are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mattia Ruggiero after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Noah Lovisa
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Arzignano defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Alcione Milano next, and one man in the Lecco dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Augusto Hugony is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mattia Ruggiero kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lecco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I watch every Lecco game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sambenedettese runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nicola Fasan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Giugliano ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Omar Lebyad takes the afternoon — 8.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Lebyad provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Omar Lebyad has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Lecco are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Ruggiero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.99, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Matteo Casarotto 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 goal that put Ospitaletto ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Lecco equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Mattia Ruggiero could afford to be generous.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.96 beside his name.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Lecco ran out of time with Altamura. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$250.0K on the table at Altamura. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Lecco asked and Empoli 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Giulio Manetti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Lecco know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Lecco than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Lecco asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Nicolò Tondi 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.
7 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.
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Lecco asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alessandro Damico is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bruno Basile is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dario Gentile 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Lecco will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
The offer from Pianese for Joaquin Dalmasso 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Benfica keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Lecco asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lecco asked and Sampdoria 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 phone has started ringing about Joaquin Dalmasso again, and this time the name on the line is Pianese. Lecco are listening politely and promising nothing.
Still no offer on the table, and Antonio Metlika’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Lecco would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lukas Sinn 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.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Lecco are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.