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.
Alberto Lunghi 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vicenza, and 3 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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 Stefano Lombardo left the room before anybody could ask which.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Vicenza pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Simon Harrasser 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.
“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; Vicenza are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Vicenza, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Something was said to Simon Harrasser and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stefano Cester trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Vicenza 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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vicenza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.77, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Alberto Lunghi 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 Vicenza has been clear about where Loris Zonta stands, which is more than many ever get.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Vicenza is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
7 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Stefano Lombardo on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutLoris Zonta knocks on the manager's door
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Bellemo and Vicenza agree another 2 years.
At 19 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Andrea Caucci
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Andrea Caucci has come out of that comparison in the side, and Vicenza have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vicenza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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 Stefano Lombardo left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
Nobody at Vicenza 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Cester 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.
Nobody at Vicenza 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.
Mohamed Hamami arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Nobody at Vicenza 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.
Alberto Lunghi 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.
Vicenza 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Darián Romero again, and this time the name on the line is Aktobe. Vicenza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicola Rauti. 1‑0 against Campobasso, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Cester 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.
6 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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vicenza has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Vicenza 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Vicenza offered $27.0K; Cremonese 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.
Vicenza ran out of time with Altamura. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
In brief
Player ratingsBoth jobs done by Claudio Morra — 7.03
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vicenza can tell you which week it ends in.
The offer went to Altamura 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. Avellino have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Simon Harrasser 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Silvio Merkaj was one of the reasons people came, and $2.5M does not replace that by itself.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vicenza have done the hard part with Sorrento, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Torino 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.
Vicenza asked and Picerno 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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 Vicenza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AC Milan is saying, and nobody at Vicenza is enjoying the guessing.
Alberto Lunghi 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.
8 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Vicenza training over how hard people work
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Vicenza have had the benefit of it.
Alberto Lunghi 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 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 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Alberto Lunghi 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vicenza 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Cester 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Vicenza is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Cester was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Reggiana ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Vicenza equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Perugia kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Vicenza will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Alberto Lunghi 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
8.14. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Cester 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Stefano Lombardo could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vicenza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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.” Stefano Lombardo, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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.
5 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.
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 Claudio Morra is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vicenza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Vicenza has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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 Alessandro Bellemo has written the date down.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Vicenza scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Alessandro Bellemo, marked 7.18, 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.
Alberto Lunghi 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gonçalo Cascalheira 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 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.
“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 Vicenza hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Alberto Lunghi 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 Stefano Cester was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vicenza told Nicola Rauti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Chiarello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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. 14 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Cester 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ravenna scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“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 Vicenza, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Cester was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vicenza will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Franco Mussis is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Something was said to Gianmarco Begheldo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Stefano Cester 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Riccardo Chiarello has his answer from Vicenza; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vicenza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Cester 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: Silvio Merkaj. 2‑1 against Forli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Cester 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 Vicenza know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stefano Lombardo after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Chiarello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 combined actions and 7.44. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Vicenza will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
The bid was some way short and Vicenza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Vicenza close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 20 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.
Torres paid $240.0K and Vicenza took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Cester 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Riccardo Chiarello 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 Vicenza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending 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 Vicenza 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.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Chiarello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arezzo have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emanuele Mariani 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. Alessandro Grassi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vicenza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomNo investment in the facilities at Vicenza
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mantova have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Cester was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Campobasso have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fabrizio Bagheria. The answer from Vicenza has not changed — yet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gonçalo Cascalheira and Vicenza agree another 3 years.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vicenza told Loris Zonta something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vicenza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Vicenza 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Cester 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxime Leverbe signs something — a contract at Vicenza 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 Riccardo Chiarello has written the date down.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Vicenza says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Stefano Lombardo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Vicenza, 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 Vicenza people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vicenza asked and AS Roma 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Loris Zonta 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Yari Verschaeren is in the works
“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.
The name of Thomas Sandon has come up in conversations Vicenza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Darián Romero has just signed for Vicenza, and for once the answer mattered.
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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vicenza are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Vicenza asked and Venezia 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.
Matteo Vescovi 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marco Carraro has his answer from Vicenza; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vicenza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vicenza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vicenza heard it as anything else.
Raul Talarico 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mattia Valoti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Spartak Trnava for Thomas Sandon 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 shaken hands with Inter; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Riccardo Chiarello and Vicenza agree another 2 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Guidonia Montecelio for Maxime Leverbe 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 deal with Frosinone 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Pergolettese will make the call about Filippo Costa this week. Vicenza have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Vicenza asked and Lazio 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 19 and 29 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Maxime Leverbe again, and this time the name on the line is Guidonia Montecelio. Vicenza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fiorentina have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“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 Vicenza, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
SquadWords at Vicenza training over how hard people work
The clubs have shaken hands with Modena; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$1.4M on the table at Juve Stabia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
13 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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.
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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Position 19 on 29 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Stefano Lombardo recited it perfectly.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vicenza have done the hard part with Udinese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente have kept their man, and Vicenza 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.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Francesco Cipriani leaves with $46.8K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Giovanni Farneti 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 Arezzo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vicenza has been clear about where Loris Zonta 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 Vicenza, and 10 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pasquale Iaccarino 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.
Raul Talarico was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I watch every Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at HJK runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pasquale Iaccarino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑1 draw with Pisa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout17 May 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.” Francesco Cipriani chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Riccardo Gagno signs something — a contract at Vicenza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vicenza 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
16 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vicenza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 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.” Francesco Cipriani chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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 words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Vicenza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pasquale Iaccarino 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 Vicenza, and 10 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 19 and 23 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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 Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at HJK runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout26 Apr 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Francesco Cipriani to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gonçalo Cascalheira is living that version at Vicenza, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.” Francesco Cipriani, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pasquale Iaccarino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 goals in 30 games at Vicenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vicenza updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Add another name to the list: AC Oulu have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thomas Sandon. The answer from Vicenza has not changed — yet.
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.
Giuseppe Cuomo 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vicenza, and 10 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Mattia Valoti has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Vicenza are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Riccardo Gagno is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The mood at Vicenza has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 20 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Chiarello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at HJK runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vicenza has been clear about where Daniel Cappelletti stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Bellemo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vicenza needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Edoardo Toscano on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
8 goals in 28 games at Vicenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vicenza updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Bellemo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” KuPS had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Nicola Rauti takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicola Rauti provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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 7.27 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pasquale Iaccarino 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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Edoardo Toscano recited it perfectly.
Add another name to the list: KuPS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thomas Sandon. The answer from Vicenza has not changed — yet.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Giorgio Basile leaves with $80.4K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vicenza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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. 15 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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 offer from KuPS for Thomas Sandon 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mattia Valoti. 2‑1 against Virtus Entella, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Caferri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Raul Talarico has his answer from Vicenza; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Giorgio Basile kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Matteo Vescovi 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.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vicenza asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Giuseppe Cuomo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Vicenza will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Vicenza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Vicenza asked and Estudiantes 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.
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.
18 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 terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at Vicenza has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 20 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Vicenza until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Vicenza asked and Juve Stabia 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 deal with Parma 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Juve Stabia 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atalanta is saying, and nobody at Vicenza is enjoying the guessing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. David Stückler is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Parma have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
14 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vicenza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Parma have accepted the money. What Vicenza do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Genoa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 19 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.
Vicenza 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vicenza has been clear about where Maxime Leverbe stands, which is more than many ever get.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Südtirol had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vicenza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Carraro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vicenza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Caferri 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.” Giorgio Basile after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
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.
Nobody at Vicenza 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.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
1‑4 to Cremonese, 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.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Riccardo Gagno'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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Juve Stabia the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Vicenza will enjoy reviewing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Caferri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
1‑4 to Padova, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vicenza has been clear about where Loris Zonta stands, which is more than many ever get.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 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 1‑4 Giorgio Basile left the room before anybody could ask which.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vicenza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Bellemo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vicenza needing him to play as if none of it matters.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nicola Rauti was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Giorgio Basile after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vicenza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Stückler scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Hellas Verona, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Vicenza 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.
The dugout26 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Giorgio Basile to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
At 22 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.
1‑2 to Mantova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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 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.
Hellas Verona next, and one man in the Vicenza dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Vicenza that is a harder question to answer.
Matteo Vescovi 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Vicenza have no good answer.
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 Lorenzo Caferri has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Caferri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Giorgio Basile to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vicenza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alessandro Bellemo scored, was marked 7.48, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
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.
12 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.
Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
0‑1 to Cesena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Giorgio Basile to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Nobody at Vicenza 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Vicenza will try again when the window opens; Parma may not be selling by then.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Silvio Merkaj. 1‑0 against Empoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
9 combined actions and 7.26. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Caferri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vicenza are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Vicenza until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vicenza have done the hard part with Parma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vicenza are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tommaso Corazza is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Filippo Costa has moved up it.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Gianmarco Begheldo arrives at Vicenza with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wil waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vicenza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Argentinos Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
10 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.
The dugout31 Aug 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Giorgio Basile to a room that had heard them before.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Vicenza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Vicenza have made the call to Argentinos Juniors. 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 Lorenzo Caferri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Modena next, and one man in the Vicenza dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vicenza people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Armand Rada has gone, the accounts have $1.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Avellino paid $1.5M and Vicenza took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Vicenza 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.
Vicenza asked and Cremonese 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A loan enquiry to Arezzo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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 name of Marco Carraro has come up in conversations Vicenza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Vicenza asked and Cremonese 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vicenza are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Vicenza would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The offer from Sabadell for Filippo Alessio 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.
Filippo Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Sandon 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.
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.
In brief
Squad8 new faces, and Vicenza are still learning each other