68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Venezia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Union Brescia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saad El Haddad is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Jesus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Seid Korać is somebody else's player now, and $330.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
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.
$31.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Venezia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ascoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Venezia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He is going to Dinamo Bucharest, the club has $31.3M 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia 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 Juan Jesus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Venezia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gaetano Oristanio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Venezia heard it as anything else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Venezia has been clear about where Thierry Rendall Correia stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Venezia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Venezia can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Venezia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Venezia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Benevento have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Albion Rrahmani. The answer from Venezia has not changed — yet.
Gaetano Oristanio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Jesus is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.” Venezia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Mattersburg for Matteo Dagasso 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Juan Jesus 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Jul 2027
20 new faces, and Venezia 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.
Nobody at Venezia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Venezia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Venezia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Venezia 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. Matteo Grandi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Forli paid $710.0K and Venezia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Bartol Franjić has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albion Rrahmani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Venezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Venezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Venezia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gaetano Oristanio 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.
Venezia asked and Siracusa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Jesus 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.
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Venezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Position 3, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The deal with Pisa 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 offer went to Bologna 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.
Add another name to the list: Reggiana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Albion Rrahmani. The answer from Venezia has not changed — yet.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Dagasso is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Venezia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Sion for Alessandro Plizzari was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The name of Marin Šverko has come up in conversations Venezia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Venezia had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The phone has started ringing about Toma Bašić again, and this time the name on the line is Ludogorets. Venezia are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atletico Venezuela keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Alcione Milano pay $83.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rodina is saying, and nobody at Venezia is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Venezia asked and Parma 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 name of Matteo Dagasso has come up in conversations Venezia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Grandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Venezia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
John Yeboah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm 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.
Nobody at Venezia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kike Pérez signs something — a contract at Venezia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Albion Rrahmani has written the date down.
“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 Venezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saad El Haddad 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 clean sheets from 18 appearances at Modena. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody at Venezia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Venezia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 goals in 21 games at Avellino — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Venezia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
17 goals in 37 games at Eibar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Venezia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Venezia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Matteo Dagasso and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Padova left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saad El Haddad 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.
Alfred Duncan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Venezia has been clear about where Albion Rrahmani stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Venezia, and 6 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mattia Mazza left the room before anybody could ask which.
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Grandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Venezia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
John Yeboah 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.
14 goals in 35 games at Eibar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Venezia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Venezia can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Venezia pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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.
7 shut-outs in 16 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Filip Stanković has been having a lot of them.
The offer from New York City for Gianluca Busio 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.
Thierry Rendall Correia 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Mazza on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Mantova will replay every second of the added time for a week.
John Yeboah 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Saad El Haddad 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsToma Bašić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Martín Szumik is living that version at Venezia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Venezia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Amadou Konaté has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Venezia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Venezia can tell you which week it ends in.
Martín Szumik and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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; Venezia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matías Moreno is on it.
“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; Venezia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Sohm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 appearances at Eibar and the goals keep coming. Venezia are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mattia Mazza to a room that had heard them before.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.68 for the rest of it.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Venezia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
John Yeboah 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierry Rendall Correia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Venezia, and 8 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mattia Mazza to a room that had heard them before.
Thierry Rendall Correia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals in one match, Albion Rrahmani on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Venezia and Pescara.
Marked 9.70 — 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The phone has started ringing about Thierry Rendall Correia again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Moscow. Venezia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Sohm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sampdoria scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Pasquale Mazzocchi 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.
The dugout15 Feb 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 Mattia Mazza left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Venezia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Grandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Venezia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
“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 Venezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Venezia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Charlton Athletic for John Yeboah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Venezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alessandro Pagliari 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Venezuela have kept their man, and Venezia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm 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 offer from Gil Vicente for Thierry Rendall Correia was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Venezia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Augusto Fernández is living that version at Venezia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thierry Rendall Correia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alessandro Pietrelli 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Venezia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Akor Adams was one of the reasons people came, and $19.2M does not replace that by itself.
The offer from Bradford City for Alessandro Plizzari 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.
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.
John Yeboah 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Venezia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 2, 48 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marin Šverko had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Reading for Alfred Duncan 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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
The offer from Lazio for Akor Adams 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Venezia have had the benefit of 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Akor Adams. 2‑0 against Modena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Thierry Rendall Correia 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Akor Adams was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.68. 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJohn Yeboah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thierry Rendall Correia wants continental football; whether Venezia can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Simon Sohm 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.
Padova next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Getting past Lorenzo Montipò has become the hardest job in the division
9 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
“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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thierry Rendall Correia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Lion Lauberbach has come up in conversations Venezia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 9.68 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Alessandro Pietrelli 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 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.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Sohm is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Mantova spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
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.
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 finished 1‑0, and it was Akor Adams’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Venezia.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Akor Adams was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Position 2, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
John Yeboah 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierry Rendall Correia 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 Venezia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Venezia 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 Simon Sohm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Mattia Mazza could afford to be generous.
1 for Simon Sohm, marked 7.79, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“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.
John Yeboah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierry Rendall Correia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Venezia. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Simon Sohm 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.
Armel Bella-Kotchap and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mattia Mazza was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Venezia dressing room was either.
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.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Nobody at Venezia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Venezia can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
John Yeboah 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 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Simon Sohm falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout12 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.” Mattia Mazza chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Vendraminetto 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 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.
4 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 Pietrelli 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 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 it has been tried.
Three points for Venezia, 1‑0 the final word against Avellino in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Simon Sohm falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lion Lauberbach obliged against Triestina. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Venezia.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Akor Adams takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Akor Adams provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Alberto Olteanu has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
Player ratingsMarin Šverko ran the middle of the pitch — 7.86
Juan Jesus was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thierry Rendall Correia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
12 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
John Yeboah scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Bari, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Simon Sohm falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Mazza after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Pietrelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matteo Grandi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Venezia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Catanzaro kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Venezia will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Toma Bašić scored, was marked 7.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Venezia close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 9 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.
The offer from Torino for Bartol Franjić 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Matteo Grandi reports back to Venezia with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Sohm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Armel Bella-Kotchap 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 offer from St. Pauli for Lion Lauberbach was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Bartol Franjić has come up in conversations Venezia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Armel Bella-Kotchap and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 Aug 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.” Mattia Mazza, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 Venezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Venezia can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
John Yeboah 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 Thierry Rendall Correia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
BoardroomVenezia say no to the training-ground money
The dugoutMario Bosco asks for a word with the manager
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Empoli paid $1.8M and Venezia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia 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 Thierry Rendall Correia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Como for John Yeboah 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Venezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Picerno paid $970.0K and Venezia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
John Yeboah 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierry Rendall Correia 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Venezia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Venezia heard it as anything else.
The name of Andrea Adorante has come up in conversations Venezia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierry Rendall Correia 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.