Marked for Evrard Zag
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxwell Azafokpe and Inter Allies agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Bechem United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Wa All Stars: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rafael Barbosa commits to Leixões for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Caio Secco in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Leixões asked and Cádiz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Kanurić 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Leixões 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Ricard Artero is in the works
Leixões have made the call to Girona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Caio Secco asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Igor Stefanović has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Leixões.