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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Seid Korać had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The bid was some way short and Venezia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kike Pérez 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.
Matías Moreno 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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Venezia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Atalanta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Gianluca Busio
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Venezia would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” St. Pauli had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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 Spezia 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.
“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.
Juan Jesus 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 phone has started ringing about Andrea Adorante again, and this time the name on the line is Avellino. Venezia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kike Pérez 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.