13 seasons and 404 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba 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.
Perugia arrived with $930.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
0‑3 against Salernitana, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Léo Abreu has gone, the accounts have $930.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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.
$390.0K on the table at Juventus. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Francesco Rillo 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.
At 24 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Picerno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Picerno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Elia Summa has improved at 24, 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 Stefano Pellizzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Picerno 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.
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Cremonese for Léo Abreu 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecco have kept their man, and Picerno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The chase for Alessandro Maspero ended with $200.0K changing hands and Sambenedettese out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Pellizzari 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Sergio Maselli has improved at 26, 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bruno Baldi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Picerno and Sambenedettese have settled on $200.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Francesco Rillo 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 Luca Baldassin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Pugliese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Picerno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Giuseppe Guadagni was one of the reasons people came, and $1.2M does not replace that by itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Pellizzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Picerno asked and Catania said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
$93.0K on the table at Livorno. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Picerno will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Baldassin 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Aarón Martínez has gone, the accounts have $480.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Add another name to the list: Dinamo Batumi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Destiny Efosa Egharevba. The answer from Picerno has not changed — yet.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Malik Djibril is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Reggiana paid $480.0K and Picerno took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Sambenedettese pay $95.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Léo Abreu 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Picerno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bruno Baldi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Picerno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Picerno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Picerno will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Baldassin 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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Picerno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ascoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Picerno 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 Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Catanzaro, the club has $570.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Matteo Davide Villa 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Elia Summa has improved at 24, 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.
In brief
SquadLéo Abreu falls out with a teammate over standards
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Picerno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Picerno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Mantova for Léo Abreu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal that would have taken Elia Summa to Bari has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Picerno with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Andrea Gemignani was one of the reasons people came, and $410.0K does not replace that by itself.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Mamadou Kanouté 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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Picerno training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bruno Baldi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Bari for Elia Summa 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Esteban Buet has, at Picerno, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Atalanta 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Picerno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Picerno will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Picerno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Antonio Granata is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Picerno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mamadou Kanouté 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 May 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Destiny Efosa Egharevba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Something was said to Sergio Maselli and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Picerno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bruno Baldi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Picerno 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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Picerno and Catania in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
2‑4 to Catania, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 May 2027
Léo Abreu 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Emmanuele Esposito will call it something else in private.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑4 Bruno Baldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sergio Maselli
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Picerno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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; Picerno are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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.
Alessandro Bassoli 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Giuseppe Coppola did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Picerno 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 Luca Baldassin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba 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 Apr 2027
Léo Abreu 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Picerno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mamadou Kanouté and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Picerno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bruno Baldi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Picerno, 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 Picerno 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 Luca Baldassin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Potenza had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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 words a physio says slowly. 125 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Potenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Picerno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Bruno Baldi to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Picerno, 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.” Picerno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Picerno did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Léo Abreu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.46. 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.
“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; Picerno are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Alan Martínez 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniele Franco
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bruno Baldi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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; Picerno are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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 Picerno 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 Picerno know it.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Picerno now know that too.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Léo Abreu 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.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba 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.
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mamadou Kanouté 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 Stefano Pellizzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 combined actions and 6.72. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The phone has started ringing about Samuel Pugliese again, and this time the name on the line is Inter Turku. Picerno are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bruno Baldi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léo Abreu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sorrento defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bruno Baldi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 17 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Léo Abreu 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Francesco Pistolesi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Picerno have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
It needed Destiny Efosa Egharevba to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Monopoli, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutDario Del Fabro loses the manager who believed in him
2‑5 to Casarano, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Picerno 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.
7 goals in one match, Destiny Efosa Egharevba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Picerno and Casarano.
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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jorge Fontemachi
0‑4 to Cosenza, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alan Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Picerno told Mamadou Kanouté something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Bruno Baldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Position 17 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Picerno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Temperley is saying, and nobody at Picerno is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Pellizzari 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. Patronato have kept their man, and Picerno 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 Picerno 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 Picerno know it.
Mamadou Kanouté 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 Léo Abreu 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. Gimnasia y Esgrima have kept their man, and Picerno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Sampaio Correa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Giuseppe Coppola. The answer from Picerno has not changed — yet.
Mamadou Kanouté 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 Dec 2026
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jorge Fontemachi
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mamadou Kanouté. 3‑1 against Latina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Pellizzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.35 — 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
6 goals in one match, Emmanuele Esposito on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Picerno and Crotone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Picerno has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Léo Abreu 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Minute 93, against Siracusa, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Picerno has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Pellizzari 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Something was said to Stefano Pellizzari and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Picerno 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 Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léo Abreu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Potenza next, and one man in the Picerno dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Udinese go through and Picerno go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Udinese kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Picerno will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mamadou Kanouté 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Mirko Locatelli has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Léo Abreu 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Stefano Pellizzari has come out of that comparison in the side, and Picerno have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Picerno than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Bruno Baldi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Trapani in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Baldassin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Alan Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emmanuele Esposito trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Casertana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Léo Abreu 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giorgio Pellegrini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Andrea Oliviero 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Bruno Baldi could afford to be generous.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Sorrento had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Picerno did not stop to explain themselves.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
He is 23 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.
A 2‑0 win over Audace Cerignola, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Picerno scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Karim Cardoni 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Léo Abreu 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.” Bruno Baldi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Léo Abreu 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bruno Baldi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorge Fontemachi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Altamura in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Picerno would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Picerno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Picerno have done the hard part with Panathinaikos, 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. Venezia have kept their man, and Picerno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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 23 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Picerno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alan Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Picerno will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Maximiliano Carrasco is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer went to Hellas Verona this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Torres is saying, and nobody at Picerno is enjoying the guessing.
$140.0K on the table at Padova. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$220.0K 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.
Destiny Efosa Egharevba 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 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 Taraz waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Picerno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Inter this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Mamadou Kanouté and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Abreu 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Antonio D'Amico 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jacopo Barbieri has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leonardo Rizzi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Picerno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
381 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The name of Giuseppe Coppola has come up in conversations Picerno were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Mamadou Kanouté 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Dario Del Fabro’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.