The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sassuolo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Lazio paid $8.8M and Sassuolo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at Sassuolo is enjoying the guessing.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lazio have kept their man, and Sassuolo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Walukiewicz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sassuolo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Sassuolo had all but put away. Torino will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lazio waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sassuolo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Davide Merola has just signed for Sassuolo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lennon Miller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sassuolo can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Udinese is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Filippo Romagna again, and this time the name on the line is Juventus. Sassuolo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Walukiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Sassuolo know it.
In brief
MatchAfter 4 games, Sassuolo finally taste it again
Nemanja Matić 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Luigi Marchetti could afford to be generous.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luigi Marchetti on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutNemanja Matić knocks on the manager’s door
SquadWords at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Cristian Volpato obliged against Como. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Sassuolo.
Alessandro Buongiorno and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A 1‑0 win over Cremonese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Walukiewicz 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.
8.23. 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sassuolo heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Walukiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 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 easiest signature of my career.” Giovanni Chiricallo and Sassuolo agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Something was said to Benjamín Domínguez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Josh Doig 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 Darryl Bakola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Alessandro Buongiorno and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sassuolo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Walukiewicz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Alessandro Buongiorno and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Ignace Van Der Brempt 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.
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Walukiewicz 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.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“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.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Parma defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Sassuolo scored in the 113th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Vasilije Adžić, 20, 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 20-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 Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Udinese had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darryl Bakola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Nemanja Matić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luigi Marchetti on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josh Doig wants continental football; whether Sassuolo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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 Sassuolo can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Sassuolo 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.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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 Darryl Bakola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luigi Marchetti after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AS Roma in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sassuolo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 27 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.
Como left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Walukiewicz 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Luigi Marchetti to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Walukiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Stefano Turati 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Luigi Marchetti left the room before anybody could ask which.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Sebastiano Esposito decided nobody was going anywhere. Inter had no time left to answer.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sassuolo.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Sassuolo 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luigi Marchetti on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadFederico Mazur falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutUlisses Garcia asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Sassuolo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darryl Bakola 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sassuolo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Inter next, and one man in the Sassuolo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Torino moved on, Stefano Turati reports back to Sassuolo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Sassuolo asked and Fiorentina 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Daniel Boloca reports back to Sassuolo with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sassuolo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sassuolo asked and Bologna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Alessandro Buongiorno 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.
Alessandro Buongiorno was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $40.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Sassuolo asked and Fiorentina 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 phone has started ringing about Stefano Turati again, and this time the name on the line is Torino. Sassuolo are listening politely and promising nothing.
A 1‑0 win over Hellas Verona, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Sassuolo offered $22.6M; Atalanta said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Frosinone waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sassuolo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Duje Ćaleta-Car 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.
Sassuolo asked and Club America said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It 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.
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.
Sassuolo have gone to Napoli with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Minnesota United FC wanted more than $10.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Hellas Verona paid $4.4M and Sassuolo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer from Modena for Filippo Romagna 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 Sassuolo 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. AS Roma have kept their man, and Sassuolo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Lazio 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Sassuolo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Pescara for Daniel Boloca was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Krasnodar is saying, and nobody at Sassuolo is enjoying the guessing.
Ignace Van Der Brempt 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Sassuolo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Minnesota United FC 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Nemanja Matić 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 name of Giacomo Satalino has come up in conversations Sassuolo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.