Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
The phone has started ringing about Luigi Caccavo again, and this time the name on the line is Tranmere Rovers. Lumezzane are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Alessandro Raffi is a Lumezzane player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alessandro Raffi has, at Lumezzane, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lumezzane people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lumezzane can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Ignacchiti is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lumezzane have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Andrea Boffelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arturo Calabresi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Ferro is on it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Luigi Caccavo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Torres for Sasha Mancini 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 easiest signature of my career.” Lorenzo Ignacchiti and Lumezzane agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Arturo Calabresi 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 Francesco Bonardi has come up in conversations Lumezzane were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad9 Aug 2027
6 new faces, and Lumezzane 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.
In brief
The dugoutSasha Mancini has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from Inter Turku for Luigi Caccavo 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.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Something was said to Maissa Ndiaye and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sasha Mancini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The offer from Foggia for Matteo Ferro 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 name of Luigi Caccavo has come up in conversations Lumezzane were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maissa Ndiaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Guidonia Montecelio for Francesco Bonardi 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.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Renate have kept their man, and Lumezzane go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
61 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Maissa Ndiaye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer from Dewa United for Luigi Caccavo 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Pergolettese had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The fee is $2.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Empoli drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The chase for Emiliano Pattarello ended with $1.7M changing hands and Arezzo out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Andrea Boffelli 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 terraces12 Jul 2027
Lumezzane spend $2.9M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.9M for Lorenzo Ignacchiti, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Ghillani and Lumezzane agree another 5 years.
Lumezzane asked and Pro Patria said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Lumezzane and Empoli have settled on $2.9M. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Arturo Calabresi was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Maissa Ndiaye 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.
Lumezzane have made the call to Stade Brestois. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Lumezzane and Pisa have settled on $2.2M. 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maissa Ndiaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Lumezzane will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Francesco Bonardi has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lumezzane know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Lumezzane and Monza have settled on $1.0M. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lumezzane have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Ferro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutSasha Mancini knocks on the manager's door
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lumezzane have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Arezzo 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.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
Lumezzane have gone to Gubbio with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Lumezzane asked and Almirante Brown said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Ferro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lumezzane. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Lumezzane asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lumezzane have made the call to Almirante Brown. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Riccardo Stivanello has come out of that comparison in the side, and Lumezzane have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Lumezzane than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Andrea Boffelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Ferro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Lumezzane 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lumezzane, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Michele Rocca
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mattia Rolando’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lumezzane.
The dugout17 May 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.” Gregorio Ceccarelli kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Ferro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gregorio Ceccarelli chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vicenza? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at Lumezzane 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.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Lumezzane had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gregorio Ceccarelli after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gregorio Ceccarelli was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Lumezzane dressing room was either.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lumezzane told Stefano Filigheddu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
Marked 9.93 — 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 70 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Ferro has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
5 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.
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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane 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 Lumezzane can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Mattia Iori 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gennaro Anatriello. 2‑0 against Pergolettese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.41 — 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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lumezzane lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Mattia Iori 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.
A 1‑0 win over Dolomiti Bellunesi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A mark of 7.87, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Mar 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.” Gregorio Ceccarelli kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Scanzi is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lumezzane has been clear about where Francesco Bonardi stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Giacomo Drago has written the date down.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gennaro Anatriello. 1‑0 against Novara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye 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 words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
13 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Michele Rocca 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alfredo Donnarumma. 1‑0 against Cittadella, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maissa Ndiaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gregorio Ceccarelli on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lumezzane lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Michele Rocca 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Lumezzane will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lumezzane has been clear about where Maissa Ndiaye stands, which is more than many ever get.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lumezzane lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 2, 52 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
12 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.
Lumezzane had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Caracas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Lumezzane, 1‑0 the final word against Pro Vercelli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Mattia Iori was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Maissa Ndiaye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Gregorio Ceccarelli could afford to be generous.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lumezzane lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lumezzane have done the hard part with Caracas, 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 Lumezzane 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. Fenix have kept their man, and Lumezzane go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maissa Ndiaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Lumezzane, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Lumezzane 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 that would have taken Matteo Scanzi to Benevento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lumezzane with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cerro Porteno keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mattia Iori was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lumezzane is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Michele Rocca 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. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Lumezzane go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mattia Iori. 2‑0 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye 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 were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at San Miguel is saying, and nobody at Lumezzane is enjoying the guessing.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Lumezzane asked and Defensores said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Carrarese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lumezzane is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Agropecuario Argentino 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Magdalena have kept their man, and Lumezzane go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Lumezzane have had the benefit of it.
Michele Rocca 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.
Lumezzane asked and Temperley 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 Maissa Ndiaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Michele Rocca 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Every 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Maissa Ndiaye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Gregorio Ceccarelli could afford to be generous.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gennaro Anatriello. 2‑1 against Lecco, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Ferro 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Mattia Iori was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout21 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.” Gregorio Ceccarelli, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gennaro Anatriello 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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lumezzane told Alfredo Donnarumma something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Michele Rocca 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 watch every Lumezzane 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuele D'Agostino and Lumezzane agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mattia Rolando is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Michele Rocca 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gregorio Ceccarelli was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Lumezzane dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Renate? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at Lumezzane will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Lumezzane, 1‑0 the final word against Virtus Verona in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gregorio Ceccarelli on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Michele Rocca and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gregorio Ceccarelli on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Alfredo Donnarumma has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Michele Rocca 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.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ignazio Sorrentino has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gianmarco Rocca is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Andrea Boffelli 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.
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye 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.
Nobody at Lumezzane 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Lumezzane than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mattia Iori. 1‑0 against Novara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Lumezzane are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 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.” Gregorio Ceccarelli, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 Lumezzane, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Ospitaletto will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Lumezzane were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Michele Rocca 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 Lumezzane, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tommaso Giordano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Michele Rocca 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.
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 young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Lumezzane who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The award goes to Mattia Iori, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Maissa Ndiaye 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.
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gregorio Ceccarelli chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Tommaso Ebone scored in the 87th minute, Pro Vercelli had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Lumezzane took the lot.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tommaso Ebone did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Ebone 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.
10 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.
Michele Rocca and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maissa Ndiaye is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There 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.
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Lumezzane would like this to lead.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Sasha Mancini
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Giana Erminio defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Ghillani’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lumezzane needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alessandro Ghillani did not need any: 9.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deal that would have taken Matteo Scanzi to Benevento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lumezzane with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Andrea Boffelli 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. San Martín have kept their man, and Lumezzane go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dario Baldini has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luca Piazza has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mattia Iori at his very best
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Arzignano will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Lumezzane were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lumezzane people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alessandro Ghillani did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Lumezzane, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Lumezzane close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lumezzane lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Lumezzane asked and Panathinaikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gregorio Ceccarelli after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Santiago Briñone is in the works
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lumezzane lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Lumezzane asked and San Martín 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 Matteo Ferro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Michele Rocca 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.
Lumezzane asked and San Martín 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 Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alessandro Fontana 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. Ruggero Bernardi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Michele Rocca was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Lumezzane training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Colangiuli 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.