94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Goianiense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlético Goianiense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matheusinho wants continental football; whether Atlético Goianiense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henrique Trevisan 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 Atlético Goianiense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentín Cerrudo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Goianiense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Goianiense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheusinho 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.
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 Atlético Goianiense would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Goianiense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henrique Trevisan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Stephanno 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.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Goianiense 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 Atlético Goianiense can pretend not to have heard.
Henrique Trevisan 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 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.
Ezequiel Ham damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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 Atlético Goianiense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Matheusinho 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Goianiense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Bruno José is on 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 Atlético Goianiense will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlético Goianiense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ezequiel Ham damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Goianiense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
142 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlético Goianiense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlético Goianiense people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Goianiense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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 Henrique Trevisan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jean Dias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kahiser Lenis signs something — a contract at Atlético Goianiense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
150 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlético Goianiense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matheusinho 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.
14 games, 5 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Atlético Goianiense now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kevin Ramírez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Ezequiel Ham 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.
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.
It needed Gustavo Coutinho to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against CRB, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.” Igor Neves chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vitinho’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Atlético Goianiense needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlético Goianiense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Minute 89, against Chapecoense, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ezequiel Ham is still being punished for one mistake
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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Igor Neves was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Atlético Goianiense dressing room was either.
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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Goianiense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ezequiel Ham 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henrique Trevisan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Atlético Goianiense had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Igor Neves kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsKahiser Lenis beats them one at a time
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Henrique Trevisan 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matheusinho wants continental football; whether Atlético Goianiense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everybody at Atlético Goianiense saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Igor Neves was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Atlético Goianiense dressing room was either.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlético Goianiense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Ezequiel Ham 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.
Coritiba next, and one man in the Atlético Goianiense dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 goals in 7 games at Chapecoense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Atlético Goianiense updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Valentín Cerrudo has just signed for Atlético Goianiense, and for once the answer mattered.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.83, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Atlético Goianiense and Vila Nova in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henrique Trevisan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is Vitinho's
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Léo Rosa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atlético Goianiense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A 1‑0 win over Botafogo-SP, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Igor Neves kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Vila Nova next, and one man in the Atlético Goianiense dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Goianiense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leandro Vilela wants continental football; whether Atlético Goianiense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Atlético Goianiense had all but put away. Ferroviária will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
17 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Henrique Trevisan is living that version at Atlético Goianiense, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.25 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlético Goianiense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bruno José 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atlético Goianiense can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henrique Trevisan 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 offer from Lokomotiv Plovdiv for Kahiser Lenis 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guilherme Marques and Atlético Goianiense agree another 2 years.
Ezequiel Ham 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 Junior Barreto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 92, against Avaí, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Still no offer on the table, and Ezequiel Ham’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
15 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.