The offer from Pisa for Mohamed Mallahi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
Leonardo Piran 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.
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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by 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 The request is on a desk at Pro Vercelli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Mohamed Mallahi has come up in conversations Pro Vercelli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Leonardo Piran was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Dean Huiberts 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 9.08 — 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.
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.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Huiberts 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Marked 5.43. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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 Pro Vercelli know it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Dolomiti Bellunesi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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 Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Huiberts 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 17 and 14 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.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Clemente Perotti 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Dean Huiberts 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 watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Giana Erminio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The mood at Pro Vercelli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Dean Huiberts 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Leonardo Piran 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Dean Huiberts 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ospitaletto? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Huiberts 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Piran 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 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.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Pro Vercelli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Dean Huiberts 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. Pro Vercelli told Mohamed Mallahi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vis Pesaro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
Clemente Perotti 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Dean Huiberts falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Pedro Vian Seewald 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.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dean Huiberts 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. 98 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.
Clemente Perotti 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Dean Huiberts 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 watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ravenna runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The mood at Pro Vercelli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianmario Comi and Pro Vercelli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Giana Erminio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lorenzo Berardi obliged against Casertana. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Pro Vercelli.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lorenzo Berardi provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Antonio Carrera 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Emanuele Riolfi 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Casertana spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
5 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.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vis Pesaro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Vercelli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Clemente Perotti 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Hamza Haoudi 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.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ravenna runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gianluca Clemente has his answer from Pro Vercelli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
$1.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The terraces6 Sep 2027
The mood at Pro Vercelli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mattia Rutigliano was one of the reasons people came, and $1.8M does not replace that by itself.
The offer from Campobasso for Antonio Satriano 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.
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.
Dean Huiberts 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.
Virtus Verona paid $430.0K and Pro Vercelli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
At 25 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.
13 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kevin Martínez is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Antonio Carrera 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Dean Huiberts 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 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Michele Voltan is a Pro Vercelli player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Denis Thomalla has improved at 35, 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Pro Vercelli
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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Michele Voltan from Padova for $310.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Huiberts 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. Salvatore Conti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Juve Stabia for Mattia Rutigliano 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonio Carrera is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Antonio Carrera 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 phone has started ringing about Lorenzo Moschetta again, and this time the name on the line is Cavese. Pro Vercelli are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ravenna runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Pedro Vian Seewald's mistake
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Huiberts is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pro Vercelli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Antonio Carrera 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
SquadDean Huiberts falls out with a teammate over standards
Dean Huiberts 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Pro Vercelli 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 speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Pro Vercelli would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Dean Huiberts 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.
Ilario Iotti 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Vercelli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dean Huiberts 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vian Seewald 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 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.
The offer from Giana Erminio for Pietro Passador 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mattia Del Favero was one of the reasons people came, and $510.0K does not replace that by itself.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Pro Vercelli will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mattia Rutigliano is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Antonio Carrera 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
SquadPietro Passador has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dean Huiberts 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.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Mantova will make the call about Mattia Del Favero this week. Pro Vercelli have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pro Vercelli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Pietro Passador again, and this time the name on the line is Casertana. Pro Vercelli are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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; Pro Vercelli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ravenna will make the call about Lorenzo Lancellotti this week. Pro Vercelli have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Dean Huiberts 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
11 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 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.
Antonio Carrera was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Fabozzi 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.
“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 Pro Vercelli, 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pro Vercelli can tell you which week it ends in.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Antonio Carrera.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Pedro Vian Seewald has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pro Vercelli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pietro Passador will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Fabozzi 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.
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.
Dean Huiberts 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohamed Mallahi signs something — a contract at Pro Vercelli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Marked 5.35. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Achraf el Bouchataoui scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Pro Vercelli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mattia Rutigliano has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pro Vercelli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Antonio Carrera 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pro Vercelli can tell you which week it ends in.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Antonio Carrera.
Squad15 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Pro Vercelli 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.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohamed Mallahi signs something — a contract at Pro Vercelli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Denis Thomalla will want back
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 instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gianmario Comi and Pro Vercelli agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“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 Pro Vercelli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dean Huiberts 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 Mattia Rutigliano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Pro Vercelli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Marked 5.73. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Satriano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Fabozzi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Marked 5.76. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dean Huiberts 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 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 Pro Vercelli will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohamed Mallahi signs something — a contract at Pro Vercelli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
“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 Pro Vercelli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antonio Carrera 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.
5 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 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 Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Antonio Satriano again, and this time the name on the line is Giana Erminio. Pro Vercelli are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Pro Vercelli know it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
11 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Antonio Carrera 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Pro Vercelli would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
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.
Dean Huiberts 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohamed Mallahi signs something — a contract at Pro Vercelli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Alcione Milano to sit and watch. I want to come back to Pro Vercelli and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
The name of Pietro Passador has come up in conversations Pro Vercelli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Parma have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Achraf el Bouchataoui. The answer from Pro Vercelli has not changed — yet.
Dean Huiberts 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 watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dolomiti Bellunesi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Pro Vercelli will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
157% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Vercelli
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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Antonio Carrera 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 watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcione Milano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli 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 Pro Vercelli know it.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dolomiti Bellunesi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Clemente Perotti provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.46 for the rest of it.
Dean Huiberts 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.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcione Milano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pro Vercelli told Hamza Haoudi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Marked 5.70. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Position 1, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Dean Huiberts 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pro Vercelli, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Clemente Perotti scored in the 86th minute, Giana Erminio had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Pro Vercelli took the lot.
A mark of 7.70 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.
Antonio Carrera 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Martínez 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.
A 2‑0 win over Giana Erminio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mohamed Mallahi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Mattia Del Favero 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.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pro Vercelli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Marked 5.51. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Marked 5.64. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Antonio Carrera 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hamza Haoudi. 1‑0 against Arzignano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every Pro Vercelli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcione Milano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A Pro Vercelli teenager takes the young player award
Mattia Rutigliano is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Gianmario Comi will want back
A mark of 9.11 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mattia Rutigliano is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Dean Huiberts 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Clemente Perotti 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pro Vercelli, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Pro Vercelli are still learning each other
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is 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 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.
Out, 1‑2 to Lumezzane, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Angelo Burruano did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Dean Huiberts was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7.51, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Pro Vercelli had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Pro Vercelli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Livieri 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.32. 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Pro Vercelli signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mattia Rutigliano did not need any: 8.58, 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Vercelli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Renate had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Pro Vercelli did not stop to explain themselves.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luca Barani has just signed for Pro Vercelli, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Vercelli can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Monopoli moved on, Nicolò Vaccarezza reports back to Pro Vercelli, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denis Thomalla. 3‑1 against Renate, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Pro Vercelli, 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 Pro Vercelli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlo Longo 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luciano Galli 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristiano Fortunato 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.
Dean Huiberts 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.
Ternana paid $290.0K and Pro Vercelli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Pro Vercelli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Thomalla and Pro Vercelli agree another 2 years.
Dean Huiberts 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Pro Vercelli know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Still no offer on the table, and Leonardo Piran’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pro Vercelli has been clear about where Alessandro Carosso stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Achraf el Bouchataoui and Pro Vercelli agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Vercelli 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pro Vercelli has been clear about where Mohamed Mallahi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Still no offer on the table, and Achraf el Bouchataoui’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.