“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Renate has been clear about where Andrea Delcarro stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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.” Alessandro Grassi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michele Calì’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Renate needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michele Calì trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Lecco had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Renate did not stop to explain themselves.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Riccardo De Zen 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Lecco were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
8.42. 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.
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The 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 Renate game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Altamura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1‑5 to Triestina, 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.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Renate and Triestina in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The shirt still fits. Alessandro Murante is back at Renate, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alessandro Murante has, at Renate, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The goal that put AlbinoLeffe ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Renate equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Mbarick Fall scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Virtus Verona, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AlbinoLeffe in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
“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 Renate, and 10 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Alessandro Grassi to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Virtus Verona next, and one man in the Renate dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutMichele Calì knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pro Patria have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Renate close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Michele Avella 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.
“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; Renate are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Salernitana paid $870.0K and Renate took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Renate can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is 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.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Cittadella left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Renate know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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.
Position 5 on 37 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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 Federico Matarán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alessandro Grassi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrea Bonetti had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Avellino have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Bonetti 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. Mantova have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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 Andrea Bonetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Alcione Milano will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Renate were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Renate, 2‑0 the final word against Arzignano in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Alessandro Grassi could afford to be generous.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Francesco Vassallo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Renate can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Union Brescia? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Arzignano next, and one man in the Renate dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lorenzo De Leo. 2‑1 against Lumezzane, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Riccardo De Zen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Cody Drameh's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lorenzo De Leo provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Lorenzo De Leo 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
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Adriano Ciapini 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Alessandro Grassi could afford to be generous.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alessandro Grassi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Pasquale Ruiz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Mbarick Fall is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Vicenza 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. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pro Patria the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Renate will enjoy reviewing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.18. 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.
Federico Matarán, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo De Leo 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 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. AlbinoLeffe had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alessandro Grassi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
SquadAdriano Ciapini, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Lorenzo De Leo 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Virtus Verona scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The 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.
Riccardo De Zen 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.
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 dugout11 Oct 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 0‑2 Alessandro Grassi left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Renate can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Lorenzo De Leo 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Riccardo De Zen 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 words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Federico Matarán is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 30 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.
Renate asked and Guidonia Montecelio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Edoardo Silvestris is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Jonathan Spedalieri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Renate asked and Sassuolo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The deal with Club Brugge 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Cristian Cuzzarella is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Lorenzo De Leo 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 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cosenza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Renate is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Renate asked and Benevento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leandro Ricci 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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Federico Matarán is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The offer went to Benevento 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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Renate lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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 deal with Virtus Verona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The deal that would have taken Andrea Bartoccioni to Benevento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Renate with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Lorenzo De Leo 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 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.
Renate asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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 Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Renate know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate 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 Renate can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Padova, the club has $1.3M 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Riccardo De Zen and Renate agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Renate asked and Empoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Gianluca Esposito 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Renate lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Altamura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Renate is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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: Cristian Cuzzarella from Lazio for $690.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Renate people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Lorenzo De Leo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Arezzo 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.
Tommaso Nobile 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Andrei Moţoc has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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 doing his job and he is not settling. Renate were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The offer from Monza for Tommaso Nobile 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Audace Cerignola had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Levski have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lorenzo De Leo. The answer from Renate has not changed — yet.
$690.0K on the table at Lazio. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Tommaso Nobile and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Renate spend $420.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $420.0K for Adriano Ciapini, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Renate have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Atalanta have accepted the money. What Renate do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Bartoccioni is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Paolo Gardoni has come up in conversations Renate were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Edoardo Saporiti is in the works
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Renate have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lazio; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emmanuele De Chiara is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Renate have lost him in all but 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 Renate can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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.
Renate have made the call to Virtus Entella. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Samuele Pagani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristiano Mariani 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. Luciano Armani 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. Renato Ravelli 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Renate who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renate 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Renate can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Tommaso Nobile 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Óttar Magnús Karlsson signs something — a contract at Renate or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gianluca Esposito trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Renate the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Renate lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.34, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Trento left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 May 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 Alessandro Grassi to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Renate is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Alcione Milano will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Renate were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Corrado Riviera scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paolo Gardoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lorenzo De Leo 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 Francesco Vassallo 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Andrei Moţoc at his very best
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andrei Moţoc
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.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lorenzo De Leo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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 season average of 7.29 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Renate know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Tommaso Nobile 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 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.
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Renate, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Corrado Riviera's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Corrado Riviera 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.
“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; Renate are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Andrea Bonetti scored in the 85th minute, Vicenza had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Renate took the lot.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paolo Gardoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tommaso Nobile and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Renate who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.30, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Renate lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout15 Mar 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.” Alessandro Grassi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Renate has been clear about where Andrea Bartoccioni stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The terracesThe Lorenzo De Leo rumours reach the terraces
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Paolo Gardoni has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tommaso Nobile 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Virtus Verona left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Mar 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 1‑2 Alessandro Grassi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Martín Suárez is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Pergolettese will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Lorenzo De Leo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 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.
A season average of 7.30 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Renate know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Tommaso Nobile 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Lorenzo De Leo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Lorenzo De Leo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Renate and Dolomiti Bellunesi.
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Feb 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 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Alessandro Grassi to a room that had heard them before.
3 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Campobasso moved on, Andrea Bartoccioni reports back to Renate, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuele De Chiara and Renate agree another 3 years.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Renate has been clear about where Mbarick Fall stands, which is more than many ever get.
The loan was meant to give him football. 1 games and 0 goals later he is back at Renate no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Renate close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Nicola Anelli again, and this time the name on the line is Rapid Wien. Renate are listening politely and promising nothing.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Cittadella the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Renate will enjoy reviewing.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Lorenzo De Leo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.88
A mark of 8.88 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 deal with Cremonese 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.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Renate had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sassuolo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Renate asked and Pisa 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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Pro Vercelli held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Renate answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Half the programme played, position 8, 28 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Renate have done the hard part with Pisa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tommaso Nobile 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.
Renate asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 8.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Renate know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Tommaso Nobile 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Alessandro Grassi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Giana Erminio next, and one man in the Renate dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Michele Calì
The dugoutThe manager makes Michele Calì a promise
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Alessandro Grassi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Lorenzo De Leo was the best thing in any of them.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Michele Calì has written the date down.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 8.12, 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 Renate 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Renate, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lorenzo De Leo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Martín Suárez 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Vicenza were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Alessandro Grassi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
7 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Bartoccioni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Tommaso Nobile and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Tommaso Nobile and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pro Patria defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alessandro Grassi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Renate than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alessandro Grassi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AlbinoLeffe? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Renate. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Simone Suppa 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.41 on the card, and the Renate support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Alessandro Grassi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against AlbinoLeffe.
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.
Lorenzo De Leo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 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.
Filippo Vesentini 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Virtus Verona in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Óttar Magnús Karlsson provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tommaso Nobile 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alessandro Grassi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Renate has been clear about where Gianluca Esposito stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Michele Calì has written the date down.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alessandro Grassi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Renate, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout14 Sep 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 1‑2 Alessandro Grassi left the room before anybody could ask which.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Novara in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Renate had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Riccardo De Zen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: River Plate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Alessandro Grassi left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with RC Strasbourg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Lorenzo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Lorenzo De Leo 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
BoardroomRenate say no to the training-ground money
The deal with River Plate 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.
Tommaso Nobile 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Andrea Bartoccioni may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Renate asked and Sampdoria said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Adriano Casadei 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Diego D'Angelo 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. Romano Pugliese 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gregorio Guerra 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.
Andrea Delcarro 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 Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.