$14.8M was the most the club would pay and Palmeiras were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Chris Ramos had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The fee is $3.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Vasco da Gama drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.1M — a club that wants Juninho enough to be asked twice.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Botafogo will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Botafogo has been clear about where Patrick de Paula stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Batista was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rwan Cruz 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.
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.
5 goals in 10 games at Barnsley — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Botafogo have no good answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
4 goals in 6 games at Estoril Praia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 JP Galvão has written the date down.
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 Botafogo have no good answer.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vasco da Gama have kept their man, and Botafogo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Edenílson reports back to Botafogo with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Botafogo will try again when the window opens; Bragantino may not be selling by then.
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Lucas Monzón for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Botafogo will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
The offer went to Atlético Mineiro 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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 68 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Cristian Medina again, and this time the name on the line is Santos. Botafogo are listening politely and promising nothing.
$1.1M on the table at América Mineiro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
19 goals in 18 games at Ludogorets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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.
Botafogo have gone to Cuiabá with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rhyan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
16 appearances away from home and 17 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mateo Ponte 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Júnior Santos falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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 Bastos is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cristian Medina signs something — a contract at Botafogo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Botafogo would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A brace, and Arthur Cabral takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arthur Cabral provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nahuel Ferraresi scored, was marked 7.51, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
7 goals in one match, Arthur Cabral on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Botafogo and Remo.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chris Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Bastos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Danilo.
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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Botafogo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Mateo Ponte 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.
11 goals in 10 games at Ludogorets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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.
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.
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.
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gabriel Vasconcelos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Something was said to Allan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Botafogo, another week without a signature from Pedro Bicalho.
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 Bastos is on it.
7 goals in 27 games at Aguilas Doradas — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 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 Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Santos; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Goiás, and it could have been more.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Alisson, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23
A mark of 8.23 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kauã Branco has agreed terms with Cascavel for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Botafogo will try not to make too much of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Legia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Danilo obliged against América de Natal. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Botafogo.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Danilo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
$14.8M on the table at Fluminense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Botafogo offered $18.7M; Palmeiras 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.
Botafogo have gone to Flamengo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Botafogo have gone to Horizonte with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.