From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Patrick Cutrone
22 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Monza right now
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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Monza
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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Matteo Pessina 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.49 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Monza right now
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Cyril Ngonge in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
Patrick Cutrone among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Patrick Cutrone on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Monza and Carrarese.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 4‑2 win over Carrarese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Matteo Pessina 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Cyril Ngonge at his very best
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Noel Törnqvist
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Match
Monza make home a hard place to visit
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Nov 2026
The view from the top for Monza
32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Aljaž Strajnar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Monza
Cyril Ngonge and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
11 goals and a season average of 7.37. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Idrissa Touré. 2‑0 against Cesena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad30 Nov 2026
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Idrissa Touré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
6‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Cyril Ngonge takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Patrick Cutrone
18 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Monza
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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match21 Nov 2026
Cyril Ngonge among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Cyril Ngonge on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Monza and Juve Stabia.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monza.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Nov 2026
Monza refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 26 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Monza
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Monza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Dany Mota knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Filippo Calvo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Match14 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Avellino defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Nov 2026
Monza out of the cup
Torino ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Cyril Ngonge in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
7 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Monza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Antov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Pescara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriele Vignali was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Monza dressing room was either.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Demba Thiam
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
Patrick Cutrone wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Patrick Cutrone found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sampdoria went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad2 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match31 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Monza
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Patrick Cutrone
16 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Monza
Matteo Pessina 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Cyril Ngonge beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Patrick Cutrone at his very best
Marked 9.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monza.
Match31 Oct 2026
Sampdoria made Monza work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noel Törnqvist, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match24 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Monza
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Monza did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Monza
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monza and Venezia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Patrick Cutrone. 4‑2 against Venezia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Monza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A season average of 7.23 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Cyril Ngonge was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Monza
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Monza
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Filippo Calvo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Matteo Porta 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Frosinone leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gabriele Vignali after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Matteo Porta gets it from the manager
“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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Monza do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Exequiel Zeballos and Monza agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cyril Ngonge in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Monza had all but put away. Südtirol will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
4‑0, and Patrick Cutrone took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Monza tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Patrick Cutrone, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Monza
Cyril Ngonge and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Monza do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Monza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
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Match
Monza settle it inside twenty minutes
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The dugout
Dany Mota gets it from the manager
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Squad
Cyril Ngonge named in the team of the month
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 44. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Noel Törnqvist decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Monza
A 0‑0 win over Latina, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Monza
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Monza do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match26 Sep 2026
Level with 97 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Monza had all but put away. Catanzaro will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
From twelve yards, and Keita Baldé misses
A penalty is the one moment in football with nowhere to hide, and he did not score it. The walk back was long and the week will be longer.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Monza 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match19 Sep 2026
Monza make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Monza have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Monza
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 5‑3, and it was Patrick Cutrone’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Monza.
Match19 Sep 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monza and Empoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 9.36 — 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Patrick Cutrone was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Monza cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Cyril Ngonge in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Monza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Patrick Cutrone. 1‑0 against Modena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.89 on the card, and the Monza support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriele Vignali on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Empoli next, and one man in the Monza dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Cyril Ngonge takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cyril Ngonge provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Michael Folorunsho delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Michael Folorunsho scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Monza 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Monza
Cyril Ngonge and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
Padova made Monza work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Gabriele Vignali could afford to be generous.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Monza will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Idrissa Touré has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Aug 2026
No mercy from Monza
Reggiana will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Monza were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Wadi Degla had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Matteo Pessina pops up at the right end — 7.99
7.99, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Como paid $2.0M and Monza took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Monza
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Michael Folorunsho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Monza 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Como waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
Andrea Colpani has left for Atalanta in a $15.4M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Monza sell a favourite for $15.4M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Andrea Colpani was one of the reasons people came, and $15.4M does not replace that by itself.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Monza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Monza
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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Monza
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Monza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Aljaž Strajnar again, and this time the name on the line is Wadi Degla. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Monza say no to the training-ground money
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Monza have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Cyril Ngonge in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matteo Ricci 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Luigi Toscano joins the Monza first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luigi Toscano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Questions about Christian Fogliaro on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Empoli come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Monza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Carrarese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Aug 2026
So close: Dany Mota’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gil Vicente moved on, Dany Mota reports back to Monza, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Monza
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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Patrick Cutrone
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Andrea Carboni knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrea Carboni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Monza. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A wage question at Monza
Patrick Cutrone has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Monza say no — this time
The offer from AGF for Gustavo Varela 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Colpani and Monza agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Monza
Cyril Ngonge and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Monza have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Monza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.