Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Perugia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Francisco Machado is living that version at Perugia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli 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.
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.
Luigi Canotto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Perugia, another week without a signature from Luca Gemello.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Valerio Rinaldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Polizzi is on it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christian Dottori did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Perugia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto 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 Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Perugia asked and Arezzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Matteo Angeli 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. Salernitana have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Moustapha Yabré has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Perugia.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valerio Rinaldi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Perugia dressing room was either.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Perugia 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Perugia have done the hard part with AZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trento have kept their man, and Perugia 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 Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Perugia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Turella will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Perugia
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ruggero Borghi 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Leonardo Vinti has come up in conversations Perugia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental 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 Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Esculino is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván Esculino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotivi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Perugia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Perugia heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Langella 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Salernitana have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with Milton Keynes Dons 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 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Matteo Angeli 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.
Tommaso Mola 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Perugia has been clear about where Lucas Juárez stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perugia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Union Brescia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Perugia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Agustín Melean has come up in conversations Perugia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vicenza have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Perugia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perugia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from FC Lahti for Gabriele Garonetti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The phone has started ringing about Lautaro Urtasún again, and this time the name on the line is Novara. Perugia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Perugia asked and Triestina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perugia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotivi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Perugia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perugia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Vinti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Perugia, another week without a signature from Luca Gemello.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luca Moro
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perugia can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Perugia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palermo, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Perugia have done the hard part with Spezia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Luigi Canotto 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 phone has started ringing about Lautaro Urtasún again, and this time the name on the line is Potenza. Perugia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perugia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Frosinone for Edoardo Vergani 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.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgio Tumbarello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Christian Langella 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Matteo Angeli 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perugia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Perugia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Perugia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Matteo Angeli 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.
Tommaso Mola 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.
Nobody at Perugia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christian Langella signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Lucas Juárez has written the date down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Palermo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Tozzuolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Campobasso have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matteo Polizzi. The answer from Perugia has not changed — yet.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Langella 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.
Tommaso Mola 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriele Garonetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Perugia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mattia Turella has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Perugia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Perugia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgio Tumbarello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia 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 Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Perugia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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. Perugia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutTommaso Mola knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Perugia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Urtasún will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luigi Canotto 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 Christian Langella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Perugia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luigi Canotto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Perugia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Luigi Canotto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgio Tumbarello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Langella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tommaso Mola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is 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. Perugia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moustapha Yabré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Matteo Angeli 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
The division's best last weekend was a Perugia man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Federico Tonti was the best thing in any of them.
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.
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 Lucas Juárez has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perugia can pretend not to have heard.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 48 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Federico Tonti provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Tozzuolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gabriele Garonetti 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 matches without a win, and then this, against Guidonia Montecelio. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli 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.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.03, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Langella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Valerio Rinaldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Perugia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Federico Tonti did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Urtasún will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.90 beside his name.
Luigi Canotto 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 Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Perugia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perugia can pretend not to have heard.
7.42, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luigi Canotto 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 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Giorgio Tumbarello has agreed terms with Udinese for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Edoardo Scquizzato 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.
“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 dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valerio Rinaldi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Perugia dressing room was either.
“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 Perugia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgio Tumbarello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Moustapha Yabré 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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Valerio Verre is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Iván Esculino is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gabriele Garonetti 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Polizzi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Tozzuolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Matteo Angeli 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Perugia will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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.” Valerio Rinaldi kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Carpi held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Perugia answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Gabriele Garonetti will call it something else in private.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pisa is saying, and nobody at Perugia is enjoying the guessing.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Perugia will try again when the window opens; Cremonese may not be selling by then.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alessandro Tozzuolo has agreed terms with Udinese for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
2‑3 to Ravenna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.12, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Federico Tonti, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Urtasún will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luigi Canotto 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 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Matteo Angeli 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Perugia know it.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutIván Esculino knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Perugia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cremonese, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The name of Federico Tonti has come up in conversations Perugia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Luigi Canotto 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.
Tommaso Mola 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.
Perugia and Cremonese have settled on $2.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia 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 Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Edoardo Vergani is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Luigi Canotto 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 in one match, Edoardo Vergani on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Perugia and Bra.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gabriele Garonetti 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 Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Edoardo Vergani scored in the 88th minute, Guidonia Montecelio had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Perugia took the lot.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces18 Dec 2028
Perugia are taken apart by Napoli — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-10. 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.
Luigi Canotto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Dec 2028
Nobody could stop scoring
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Perugia and Napoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia 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 Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luigi Canotto commits to Perugia for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
“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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Edoardo Vergani scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Torres, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Luigi Canotto 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 8.01 — 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Perugia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Luigi Canotto 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 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.
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 Luca Gemello is on it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Moustapha Yabré obliged against Benevento. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Perugia.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tommaso Mola did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Luigi Canotto 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 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Christian Langella. 3‑1 against Sambenedettese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Mola 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Moustapha Yabré at his very best
The terracesPerugia's travelling support get something back at Benevento
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Perugia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
Something was said to Matteo Polizzi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valerio Rinaldi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Perugia dressing room was either.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edoardo Vergani signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Gabriele Garonetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perugia can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Perugia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edoardo Vergani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tommaso Mola 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valerio Rinaldi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Valerio Verre commits to Perugia for another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Perugia, another week without a signature from Alessandro Tozzuolo.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Federico Tonti did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luigi Canotto 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 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Federico Tonti has come out of that comparison in the side, and Perugia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edoardo Vergani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valerio Rinaldi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Perugia know 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 Lautaro Urtasún is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Perugia asked and Frosinone said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Giorgio Tumbarello 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: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Valerio Rinaldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Perugia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Urtasún will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Perugia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Cremonese paid $570.0K and Perugia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edoardo Vergani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Pianese will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Perugia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A brace, and Valerio Verre takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valerio Verre provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Perugia heard it as anything else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuele Ferraro is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
6 goals in one match, Valerio Verre on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Perugia and Pianese.
At 34 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
Tommaso Mola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Antonio Sabbatani had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Polizzi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
The deal that would have taken Lautaro Urtasún to Pro Vercelli has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Perugia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renato Morelli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Polizzi is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Gemello signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Gabriele Garonetti 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Luigi Canotto has improved at 34, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Sabbatani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Doncaster Rovers for Antonio Sabbatani was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 34 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giorgio Tumbarello is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Luigi Canotto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Matteo Angeli has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cristian Squillante has, at Perugia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The phone has started ringing about Iván Esculino again, and this time the name on the line is AZAL. Perugia are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Gabriele Garonetti 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 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Forli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Perugia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Tobol had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Perugia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perugia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Matteo Polizzi has come up in conversations Perugia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental 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 Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edoardo Vergani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Perugia know it.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Estudiantes de Caracas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Perugia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$5.4M was the most the club would pay and Reggiana were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Gabriele Garonetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Perugia has been clear about where Lautaro Urtasún stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$5.4M on the table at Reggiana. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Gabriele Garonetti 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 Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Gemello signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6 on 58 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reggiana have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Christian Langella 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 Edoardo Vergani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Perugia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The name of Antonio Sabbatani has come up in conversations Perugia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental 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 Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Luigi Canotto 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gonzalo Ontivero is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Perugia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christian Langella signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Gabriele Garonetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Polizzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Perugia heard it as anything else.
Luigi Canotto 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Gemello signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6, 58 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perugia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Perugia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perugia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perugia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Perugia have had the benefit of it.
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.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
Gabriele Garonetti 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
Nobody at Perugia 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.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Gemello signs something — a contract at Perugia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6 on 58 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Perugia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Perugia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 58 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Gabriele Garonetti 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Perugia will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
2‑3 to Guidonia Montecelio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valerio Rinaldi after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Elvis Kabashi will call it something else in private.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Perugia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valerio Rinaldi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Perugia dressing room was either.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Ascoli.
The bid was some way short and Perugia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad27 Mar 2028
5 new faces, and Perugia 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Angeli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Perugia know it.
Something was said to Gabriele Garonetti and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Valerio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Perugia know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Perugia told Mattia Viviani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.09. 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Edoardo Vergani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Perugia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Valerio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
Luigi Canotto 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Matteo Angeli 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 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Perugia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Gabriele Garonetti 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Luigi Canotto 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edoardo Vergani. 2‑0 against Campobasso, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Virtus Verona had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Perugia will try again when the window opens; Lecce may not be selling by then.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matteo Polizzi commits to Perugia for another 4 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Luigi Canotto 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. Foggia have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Perugia and Lecce have settled on $2.5M. 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Perugia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AC Milan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Perugia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Matteo Angeli 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. Salernitana have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Antonio Sabbatani had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Perugia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lecce, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Gabriele Garonetti 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Elvis Kabashi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Forli, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Valerio Rinaldi to a room that had heard them before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Oldham Athletic waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Perugia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lazio; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Perugia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fiorentina, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gabriele Garonetti 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Perugia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lazio is saying, and nobody at Perugia is enjoying the guessing.
$4.5M was the most the club would pay and Cagliari were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with AC Milan is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Angeli 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 Cagliari 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Perugia had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Lautaro Urtasún again, and this time the name on the line is Newport County. Perugia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Perugia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edoardo Vergani. 1‑0 against Bra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Perugia heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia 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 Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antonio Sabbatani. 1‑0 against Pianese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Valerio Rinaldi could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Angeli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edoardo Vergani and Perugia agree another 4 years.
Match15 Dec 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Perugia and Napoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriele Garonetti did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Perugia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Christian Langella 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.
Three points for Perugia, 3‑2 the final word against Ascoli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luigi Canotto 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.
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout13 Dec 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.” Valerio Rinaldi kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perugia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Matteo Angeli 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.
Antonio Sabbatani 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia 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 Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Arezzo.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 Perugia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Joselito has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Gabriele Garonetti 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 Luigi Canotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perugia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Christian Langella 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 Matteo Angeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Perugia can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.