From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Lambrughi 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Pro Vercelli leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrea Padalino
“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.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Lecco next, and one man in the Pergolettese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuele Careccia signs something — a contract at Pergolettese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Nobody at Pergolettese 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdoul Bane commits to Pergolettese for another 3 years.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
7.23, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Pergolettese had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Zaid Jaouhari
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Cristiano Esposito was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pergolettese dressing room was either.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Renate will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Pro Vercelli next, and one man in the Pergolettese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Niccolò Corti has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Davide Pavesi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Niccolò Corti and Pergolettese agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Gabriele Pessolani
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gabriele Pessolani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pergolettese have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Cristiano Esposito was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pergolettese dressing room was either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Pergolettese lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Alcione Milano will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Renate in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriele Pessolani did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Michael De Marchi. 2‑1 against Arzignano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Marco Andrea Tremolada'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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Alberto Pala
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Alcione Milano in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Pergolettese squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pergolettese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Union Brescia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jacopo Antolini 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: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Milesi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.41, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Cristiano Esposito kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Alberto Pala
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Niccolò Corti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Luca Milesi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Abdoul Bane has been promised minutes
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 Abdoul Bane has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Luca Milesi 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Lorenzo Cordaro knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout9 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 0‑2 Cristiano Esposito left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Jacopo Antolini dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
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 Cristiano Esposito left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Something was said to Daniele Ferrandino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Niccolò Corti’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pergolettese needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Pergolettese had a different afternoon.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mariano Arini speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Pergolettese was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Salvatore Dore ran the middle of the pitch — 7.10
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.10, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Pergolettese
9 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.43 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pergolettese had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Cristiano Esposito could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
The leaders are next for Pergolettese
Cittadella top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Davide Pavesi 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.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 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 0‑1 Cristiano Esposito left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Ospitaletto next, and one man in the Pergolettese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Luca Milesi
Nobody at Pergolettese 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Chances created: 4. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 5. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Niccolò Corti
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Zaid Jaouhari has written the date down.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Pergolettese the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Looking ahead: the trip to Trento
Position 5 for the hosts, a long journey for the away end, and a fixture that will look ordinary on paper right up until it is not.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A rating of 6.71 was enough for the selectors, and nobody who watched the match is going to argue with them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Michael De Marchi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pergolettese.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Pergolettese
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Pergolettese support went home talking about one name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mariano Arini named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mariano Arini is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Cristiano Esposito, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Sep 2026
1‑3 against Ascoli, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad28 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.95, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Sep 2026
Carpi made Pergolettese work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Pergolettese settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Carpi spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniele Ferrandino, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Cordaro has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Luca Milesi 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Cristiano Esposito kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Pergolettese have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Carpi next, and one man in the Pergolettese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 18 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Pergolettese have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dolomiti Bellunesi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Pergolettese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Pergolettese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Pergolettese 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Pergolettese asked and Empoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AlbinoLeffe in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tommaso Silvestri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Pergolettese 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Novara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Pergolettese
9 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
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Cristiano Esposito after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Padova: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Antolini, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
No place in the plan for Luca Milesi
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mariano Arini speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Pergolettese was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sochaux keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Oumar Camara is in the works
Pergolettese have made the call to Gil Vicente. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Guidonia Montecelio for Niccolò Corti 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hellas Verona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Hellas Verona 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Seid Korać rejects the move
Pergolettese had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Venezia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michele Serra 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mattia Bianco 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tommaso Leone 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergio Moretti 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
Niccolò Corti asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael De Marchi and Pergolettese agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mariano Arini 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sampdoria have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Lambrughi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pergolettese, another week without a signature from Mariano Arini.
Squad3 Aug 2026
9 new faces, and Pergolettese 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.