0‑4 to AS Roma, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Bernabé 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.
Tijjani Noslin 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
8 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Massimo Zilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alessandro Bianco scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Cyril Ngonge was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Bernabé 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Modena game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Modena can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simone Santoro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Modena will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena 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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $470.6K of what Modena paid for Niccolò Chiorra is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Modena close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 25 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.
The offer from Virtus Entella for Leonardo Consiglio 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.
Francesco Zampano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Bernabé 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Pro Vercelli had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Genoa for Massimo Zilli 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to Latina 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $765.0K — a club that wants Antonio Cioffi enough to be asked twice.
Francesco Zampano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Campobasso waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Bari for Andrea Adorante 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Niccolò Chiorra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$700.0K on the table at Union Brescia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Francesco Zampano 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.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Palermo 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.
The phone has started ringing about Antonio Imputato again, and this time the name on the line is Sorrento. Modena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Modena asked and Inter 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 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 Modena know it.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena 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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Pro Vercelli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bryant Nieling. The answer from Modena has not changed — yet.
The offer went to Palermo 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.
Modena offered $660.0K; Union Brescia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Modena asked and Arzignano 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 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena 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. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Leonardo Consiglio had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Modena, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The phone has started ringing about Massimo Zilli again, and this time the name on the line is Bari. Modena are listening politely and promising nothing.
$460.0K on the table at Palermo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Cyril Ngonge 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.
Modena asked and Palermo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Modena have made the call to San Martín de Burzaco. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Modena will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
He is going to Spezia, the club has $7.9M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The fee is $1.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Catania drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Francesco Zampano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrea Adorante wants continental football; whether Modena can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Udinese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Modena asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pianese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Modena asked and Virtus Entella 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
The offer went to Palermo 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 Virtus Entella 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.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Massimo Zilli again, and this time the name on the line is Udinese. Modena are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.5M — a club that wants Riccardo Turicchia enough to be asked twice.
Francesco Zampano 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Cittadella for Leonardo Consiglio 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 have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Inter is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Francesco Zampano 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutGiuseppe Caso knocks on the manager's door
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Samuele Mulattieri ended with $6.1M changing hands and Sassuolo out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Imputato will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at Modena is enjoying the guessing.
$350.0K on the table at Casarano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$650.0K was the most the club would pay and Foggia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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: Samuele Mulattieri from Sassuolo for $6.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The chase for Tijjani Noslin ended with $6.8M changing hands and Fiorentina out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$6.1M on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chase for Cyril Ngonge ended with $4.7M changing hands and Fiorentina out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
$570.0K on the table at Foggia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $425.0K — a club that wants Niccolò Corti enough to be asked twice.
Modena offered $390.0K; Pergolettese 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.
Fiorentina have accepted the money. What Modena 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 from Trento for Luca Franco 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 Fiorentina 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The offer went to Pergolettese 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.
Francesco Zampano 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
Position 17 on 25 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michele Pezzolato will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 dugout28 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Nicolò Mariani left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Francesco Zampano 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 Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alessandro Bianco scored, was marked 7.62, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I have 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 Modena know 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 Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Modena will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fabio Gerli 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 Modena pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
11 goals in 34 games at Cartagena — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Modena updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nicolò Mariani was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Modena 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.
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.
13 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Pisa were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francisco Cuzzani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francesco Zampano 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Modena and Pisa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Imputato will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francesco Zampano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Modena can tell you which week it ends in.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
30 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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 Nicolò Mariani to a room that had heard them before.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Edoardo Olivieri is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Modena pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Modena know it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutFabio Gerli knocks on the manager’s door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Fabio Gerli will call it something else in private.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolò Mariani after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutGiuseppe Caso asks for a word with the manager
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Up for the corner, and Yunus Musah delivers — 7.46
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yunus Musah scored, was marked 7.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Edoardo Corvi wants continental football; whether Modena can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The goal that put Inter ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Modena equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michele Pezzolato will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
14 combined actions and 7.20. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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 8.11 — 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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francesco Zampano 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 has had enough of the noise. Whether Modena can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vasilije Adžić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francesco Zampano 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tobias Slotsager 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Modena signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad19 Feb 2029
5 new faces, and Modena 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
23 appearances at Cartagena and the goals keep coming. Modena are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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 Nicolò Mariani to a room that had heard them before.
Benjamín Vallejo is 19, and Modena 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fabio Gerli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena 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. Guidonia Montecelio have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Francesco Zampano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Como were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Francesco Zampano 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrea Adorante wants continental football; whether Modena can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Modena can tell you which week it ends in.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 18 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Francesco Zampano 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. 14 actions, 6.94, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Modena has been clear about where Tobias Slotsager stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Modena will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The goal that put Napoli ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Modena equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Francisco Cuzzani 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
Edoardo Corvi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Fabio Gerli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Modena told Fabio Gerli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nicolò Mariani could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fabio Gerli 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.
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.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout11 Dec 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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Nicolò Mariani to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Beaten 4 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Francesco Zampano 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vasilije Adžić provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Francesco Zampano 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: Vasilije Adžić. 3‑1 against Cremonese, 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. Vasilije Adžić 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.
“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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Yunus Musah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
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.” Nicolò Mariani kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Modena have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Modena know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Modena 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 in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Modena. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 goals in 8 games at Cartagena — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Modena updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I have 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 Modena know 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 Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The terraces6 Nov 2028
Modena are taken apart by Lecco — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Yunus Musah 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.
Something was said to Tom Cannon and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fabio Gerli 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout23 Oct 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 0‑3 Nicolò Mariani 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 Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
10 new faces, and Modena 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 team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against AC Milan.
AC Milan next, and one man in the Modena dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Modena the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Francesco Zampano 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 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.
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.
The dugout9 Oct 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 Nicolò Mariani to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Nobody at Modena 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.
Francesco Zampano 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Modena 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Modena know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kleis Bozhanaj 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.
11 combined actions and 7.14. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
16 new faces, and Modena 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nicolò Mariani could afford to be generous.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Modena have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The offer from Frosinone for Leonardo Consiglio 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Modena close the window on a squad of their own making
34 in and 25 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Francisco Cuzzani reports back to Modena with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Modena asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutVasilije Adžić asks for a word with the manager
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Carpi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Venezia did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $4.7M for Andrea Adorante, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Edoardo Corvi wants continental football; whether Modena can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Modena asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bristol Rovers have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $1.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Arzignano drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joaquín Petino has, at Modena, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The chase for Alessandro Spavone ended with $840.0K changing hands and Guidonia Montecelio out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Francesco Zampano 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Modena will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
127 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Guidonia Montecelio 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Crotone is saying, and nobody at Modena is enjoying the guessing.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Alcione Milano moved on, Leonardo Consiglio reports back to Modena, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Yunus Musah 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Modena will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Inter is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arzignano have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Niccolò Chiorra has just signed for Modena, and for once the answer mattered.
Kleis Bozhanaj 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 phone has started ringing about Leonardo Consiglio again, and this time the name on the line is Alcione Milano. Modena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Jul 2028
12 new faces, and Modena 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Inas Kukavica has his answer from Modena; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Edoardo Corvi talk too
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Modena offered $9.3M; Sorrento 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 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $10.1M — a club that wants Simone Cangianiello enough to be asked twice.
Fabio Gerli 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.
Modena asked and AS Roma 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$7.6M on the table at Sorrento. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Modena had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sorrento, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Venezia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$3.4M on the table at Sorrento. 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.7M — a club that wants Simone Cangianiello enough to be asked twice.
Francesco Zampano 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.
Modena 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Giuseppe Caso
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena 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 Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Spezia did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $5.9M for Massimo Zilli, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Udinese keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fabio Gerli 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.
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: Massimo Zilli from Spezia for $5.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Casarano had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.8M — a club that wants Agustín Dattola enough to be asked twice.
Modena asked and AS Roma 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 offer from Empoli for Laurenţiu Popescu 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pianese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The enquiry everybody at Modena was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Monza keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 65 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The fee is $12.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Juventus drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Bologna paid $13.0M and Modena took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Modena asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alessandro Sersanti has gone, the accounts have $13.0M 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.
Modena have gone to Mantova with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have shaken hands with Monza; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
$310.0K on the table at Carrarese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fabio Gerli 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.
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.
Fabio Gerli 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nicolò Mariani could afford to be generous.
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.
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 Ronald Koeman is on it.
Francesco Zampano 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronald Koeman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kleis Bozhanaj. 1‑0 against Catanzaro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Laurenţiu Popescu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Laurenţiu Popescu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Giuseppe Caso
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
8.38. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nicolò Mariani on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Leonardo Consiglio is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Modena can tell you which week it ends in.
Marked 6.74 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.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutPaulo Azzi has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Edoardo Corvi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Modena, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fabio Gerli 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.
500 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 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 Modena know it.
“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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Giuseppe Caso
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pisa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Modena will enjoy reviewing.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything 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 Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Pisa.
Something was said to Andrea Cagnano and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Randal Kolo Muani has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Nobody at Modena 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alessandro Sersanti signs something — a contract at Modena or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Francesco Zampano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Randal Kolo Muani will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Modena escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Fabio Gerli 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Modena told Randal Kolo Muani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I watch every Modena game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vicenza runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Randal Kolo Muani 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.
Carrarese held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Modena answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Alessandro Sersanti is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Nicolò Mariani could afford to be generous.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Randal Kolo Muani was the best thing in any of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Juan Marinelli is living that version at Modena, and it tends to show in the first month.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pedro Mendes. 2‑0 against Cosenza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Juan Marinelli is 20, and Modena 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
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.” Nicolò Mariani kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“I did not go to Esbjerg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Modena and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Feb 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 1‑2 Nicolò Mariani left the room before anybody could ask which.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Modena can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronald Koeman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ronald Koeman has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena 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 Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Modena 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Modena 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fabio Gerli 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.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
6 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena 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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Altamura for Paulo Azzi 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.
Francesco Zampano 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Antonio Imputato 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Modena will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Santos is saying, and nobody at Modena is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ascoli have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Position 7, 31 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $5.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Parma drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Modena had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Estudiantes, 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 Modena 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.
Modena and Parma have settled on $5.1M. 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.
The offer from Lausanne-Sport for Daniele Montevago 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Fabio Gerli 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 name of Leonardo Consiglio has come up in conversations Modena were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Modena are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ezequiel Naya is in the works
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Add another name to the list: Red Star have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luca Franco. The answer from Modena has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 dugout3 Jan 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 0‑1 Nicolò Mariani left the room before anybody could ask which.
Position 2, 28 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Modena.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Giuseppe Caso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Nicolò Mariani could afford to be generous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Luca Franco 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutRonald Koeman has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Francesco Zampano 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Laurenţiu Popescu knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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.
The dugout13 Dec 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Nicolò Mariani to a room that had heard them before.
The offer from Talleres for Luca Franco 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.
Fabio Gerli 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Giuseppe Leone 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Laurenţiu Popescu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout6 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.” Nicolò Mariani, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fabio Gerli 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 1‑1 draw with Sampdoria leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nicolò Mariani was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Modena dressing room was either.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Parma.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pedro Mendes. 2‑0 against Arezzo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Nicolò Mariani could afford to be generous.
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 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.
Francisco Cuzzani 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 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 Paulo Azzi is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pedro Mendes signs something — a contract at Modena or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Arezzo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francisco Cuzzani 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 Modena would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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 Giuseppe Leone has written the date down.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fabio Gerli 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fabio Gerli 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 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.