Nodar Lominadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Torpedo Kutaisi will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Kutaisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Kutaisi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Algassime Bah’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keny Arroyo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Keny Arroyo is on 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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Dinamo Tbilisi would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lyes Houri signs something — a contract at Dinamo Tbilisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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 had been thinking. João Moura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonel Ortíz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Kutaisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
In brief
SquadAlgassime Bah is training like a man with a point to make
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keny Arroyo 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.
Something was said to Edmilson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Emirhan Akçay is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Kolkheti will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 19 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.
Marked 7.69 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.94, and 2 involvements.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi offered $26.0K; Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Güemes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Tbilisi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The chase for Marios Pourzitidis ended with $1.4M changing hands and Dinamo Tbilisi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
3 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.
Marios Pourzitidis was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Kutaisi have done the hard part with Nueva Chicago, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zugdidi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Torpedo Kutaisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi know it.
12 clean sheets from 21 appearances at Samtredia. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kisley Zita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Kutaisi have done the hard part with Colón, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torpedo Kutaisi and Lokomotivi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Riestra have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Chikhura for Nikoloz Ninua 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Edmilson provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Keny Arroyo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.12
A mark of 8.12 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.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi are 1 in the table and the town has noticed
46 points, a place near the top and a ground that has begun to enjoy itself. Nobody will say the word out loud, which is the surest indication that everybody is thinking it.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Pafos 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Saburtalo kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Dinamo Tbilisi will be asked about the last half hour all week.
15 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Saburtalo; the supporters will say both, in that order, all 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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
A season average of 7.72 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Dinamo Tbilisi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The name of Algassime Bah has come up in conversations Dinamo Tbilisi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.0K — a club that wants Luka Sanikidze enough to be asked twice.
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.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Dinamo Tbilisi have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Keny Arroyo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 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.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A season average of 7.24 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Dinamo Tbilisi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Algassime Bah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Dinamo Tbilisi and Torpedo Kutaisi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.90 — 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.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Dinamo Tbilisi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dinamo Batumi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
A performance of 8.55 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Nika Tsitaishvili left the room before anybody could ask which.
7 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A brace, and Nikoloz Ninua takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikoloz Ninua provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A season average of 7.37 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Dinamo Tbilisi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Giorgi Loria 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.
7 goals in one match, Nikoloz Ninua on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Dinamo Tbilisi and Kolkheti.
“I watch every Dinamo Tbilisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samtredia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathew Gbomadu provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Algassime Bah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Felipe Pires 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.
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Felipe Pires takes the afternoon — 8.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Felipe Pires provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mathew Gbomadu 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 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 Dinamo Tbilisi know it.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Zugdidi tried to reorganise, Dinamo Tbilisi did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Algassime Bah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Dinamo Tbilisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Dinamo Tbilisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samtredia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Iyed Haj Khalifa is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 Giorgi Kukhianidze has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Tbilisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Dinamo Tbilisi and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mathew Gbomadu signs something — a contract at Dinamo Tbilisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Tbilisi can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cruzeiro is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
Keny Arroyo 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Dinamo Tbilisi will try again when the window opens; Torpedo Kutaisi may not be selling by then.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leon have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Guria will make the call about Algassime Bah this week. Dinamo Tbilisi have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Dinamo Tbilisi know which stage they are at.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Bragantino, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ural is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
The offer from Sioni for Vakhtang Mchedlidze 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 phone has started ringing about Paris Psaltis again, and this time the name on the line is Kolkheti. Dinamo Tbilisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vakhtang Mchedlidze and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tskhinvali waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Torpedo Kutaisi; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 deal with Cruzeiro 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.
Giorgi Loria 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
The phone has started ringing about Algassime Bah again, and this time the name on the line is Tskhinvali. Dinamo Tbilisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Dila 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nikoloz Ninua has his answer from Dinamo Tbilisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Halid Doltmourziev and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years.
Dinamo Tbilisi have made the call to Cruzeiro. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Algassime Bah signs something — a contract at Dinamo Tbilisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Numan Kurdić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Algassime Bah is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Numan Kurdić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Levan Shengelia 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 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 Dinamo Tbilisi know it.
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 Algassime Bah is on 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.
18 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It 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.
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 Lucas Flores has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Tbilisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jaba Kankava 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Giorgi Loria
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Giorgi Loria has come out of that comparison in the side, and Dinamo Tbilisi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Dinamo Tbilisi will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Lucas Flores a promise
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
18 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.” Nika Tsitaishvili on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Tskhinvali will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Tbilisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 22 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.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Giorgi Gvasalia, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Dinamo Tbilisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Santos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mikheil Makatsaria has agreed terms with Dinamo Batumi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Jaba Kankava 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Dinamo Tbilisi and Sapovnela, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.