The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monopoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$920.0K on the table at Perugia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Monopoli told Cheikh Niasse something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Mirko Albertazzi is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Monopoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bra, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monopoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Monopoli and Bra have settled on $790.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Monopoli have gone to Arzignano 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.
Luca Garritano 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: Cheikh Niasse from Hellas Verona for $5.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cheikh Niasse was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monopoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$5.6M settles it between the clubs for Cheikh Niasse
Hellas Verona have accepted the money. What Monopoli do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Monopoli have gone to Bra 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Audace Cerignola wanted more than $240.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Monopoli spend $680.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $680.0K for Simone Curzi, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Livorno have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirko Albertazzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Monopoli and Sambenedettese have settled on $330.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The fee is $480.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lazio drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Monopoli offered $840.0K; Pianese 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.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Antonio Iorio was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $480.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirko Albertazzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The deal with Lazio 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 offer went to Pianese 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.
Add another name to the list: Bra have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Edoardo Antoni. The answer from Monopoli has not changed — yet.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Club Brugge is saying, and nobody at Monopoli is enjoying the guessing.
Monopoli have gone to Audace Cerignola 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.
Raffaele Pucino 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diego Blè is living that version at Monopoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Philip Yeboah
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catania have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antony Angileri commits to Monopoli for another 3 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only 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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Torino 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.
Luca Garritano 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Colombara is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Monopoli asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is going to Cremonese, the club has $820.0K 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.
Monopoli and Catania have settled on $290.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Luca Vido was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cherno More have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monopoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monopoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atletico Venezuela keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Luca Vido 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 season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Monopoli know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Monopoli asked and Sampdoria said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alberto Rocca has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Silvio Fiorentino has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mariano Rossetti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Monopoli will try not to make too much of it.
A loan enquiry to Atletico Venezuela: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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.
A mark of 9.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
1 for Giacomo Fedel, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Luca Garritano 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 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Latina, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout10 May 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.” Alessio De Simone, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gabriele Bernardotto decided nobody was going anywhere. Crotone had no time left to answer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Monopoli will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Luca Garritano 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 is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luca Vido was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Alessio De Simone left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Raffaele Pucino 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Audace Cerignola; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emanuele Scipioni and Monopoli agree another 4 years.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Potenza had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Monopoli did not stop to explain themselves.
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.
1 for Lorenzo Bordo, marked 7.26, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Raffaele Pucino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Monopoli who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Luca Garritano has come out of that comparison in the side, and Monopoli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Alessio De Simone kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Davide Bove and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Trapani made Monopoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match20 Mar 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Monopoli. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Claudio Manzi.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Luca Garritano 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 1‑0 win over Casertana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monopoli.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Alessio De Simone kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Luca Garritano 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.
Giugliano made Monopoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Luca Vido was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Salvatore Longo.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monopoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
Raffaele Pucino and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Valenti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monopoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alessandro Vinciguerra did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Raffaele Pucino 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 is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Davide Bove has his answer from Monopoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alessio De Simone on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alessio De Simone after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mirko Albertazzi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Monopoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monopoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Cremonese moved on, Salvatore Longo reports back to Monopoli, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Llaneros is saying, and nobody at Monopoli is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove 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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monopoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Monopoli are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Monopoli close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia y Esgrima have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvatore Longo, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Juventus 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.
Monopoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at San Miguel, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Luca Garritano 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Alessio De Simone left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have shaken hands with Pescara; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Benevento left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Monopoli had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Monopoli 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.
Something was said to Luca Vido and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Alessandro Vinciguerra is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Raffaele Pucino 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvatore Longo, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Vido trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Two goals and a mark of 9.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A mark of 8.41 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Luca Garritano 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Siracusa were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alessio De Simone on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Luca Garritano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriele Bernardotto and Monopoli agree another 3 years.
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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alessio De Simone was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Monopoli dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Valenti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Potenza defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monopoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Monopoli will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Emanuele Scipioni has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Bove was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It finished 0-4. 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.
Raffaele Pucino 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: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bruno Valenti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 1‑3 Alessio De Simone left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Monopoli than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Trapani in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Luca Garritano 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Luca Vido’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Monopoli.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A mark of 7.95, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Monopoli 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
Luca Garritano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Valenti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Giugliano next, and one man in the Monopoli dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alessio De Simone after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 Mirko Albertazzi is on it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“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 Monopoli will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Raffaele Pucino was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monopoli and Casarano in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luca Garritano. 4‑2 against Casarano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Carpi are out and Monopoli go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Filippo Tosi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alessandro Vinciguerra did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Vinciguerra 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Vinciguerra. 2‑0 against Altamura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Luca Vido was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.78. 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.” Alessio De Simone on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Alessandro Vinciguerra 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvatore Longo, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Monopoli have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giacomo Fedel’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Monopoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Bordo, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bruno Valenti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alessio De Simone to a room that had heard them before.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cosenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑4 to Benevento, 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monopoli have done the hard part with Torino, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Luca Garritano 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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 0‑4 Alessio De Simone left the room before anybody could ask which.
The deal with Sassuolo 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.
Luca Garritano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catania have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bove is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Add another name to the list: Sorrento have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Renato Cascella. The answer from Monopoli has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Valenti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Monopoli asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francesco Marini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Achille Sartori has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Angelo D'Amico has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniele Corsini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Monopoli would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Raffaele Pucino was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Davide Bove falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Still no offer on the table, and Freddi Greco’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Monopoli 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.