The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mirassol people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of Gabriel Pires has come up in conversations Mirassol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: River Plate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Walter 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edson Carioca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Everton Cebolinha has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
49 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Léo Bonatini takes the afternoon — 9.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Léo Bonatini provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mirassol has been clear about where Eduardo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomazella will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mirassol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
10 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Fernandinho 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 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.
Marked 8.43 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fernandinho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mirassol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Shaylon. 3‑2 against Fortaleza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirassol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Hapoel Kiryat Shmona for Lautaro Napolitano 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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Sampaio Correa moved on, Alex Muralha reports back to Mirassol, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Marked 9.98. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mirassol.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Nicola Leali 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.
Mirassol asked and Alianza Lima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirassol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Ceará will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Melk has pre-agreed a move to Mirassol, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Mirassol asked and Penarol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fernandinho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jul 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 1‑2 Felipe Oliveira left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Oeste spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mirassol people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Palmeiras 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.
9 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Madryn have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The phone has started ringing about Alex Muralha again, and this time the name on the line is Sampaio Correa. Mirassol are listening politely and promising nothing.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mirassol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Negueba provided it, and the 9.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Mirassol 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.” Mirassol 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 Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mirassol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mirassol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $3.6M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
The mood at Mirassol 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everton Cebolinha 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 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 Agdon has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Fernandinho
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Walter 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.
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
The approach has been made to Spartak Subotica and the answer is somebody else's to give. These things are settled in private and reported in public, usually in that order.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Negueba signs something — a contract at Mirassol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mirassol. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Tiago Machado clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Walter has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Mirassol are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
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 Adalberto has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutChico Kim asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mirassol asked and Palmeiras 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 Mirassol has been clear about where Eduardo stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Negueba signs something — a contract at Mirassol 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 Adalberto has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
The offer from Sampaio Correa for Georgemy 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alesson 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Dec 2026
6 new faces, and Mirassol 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirassol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A 1‑0 win over Botafogo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alesson 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.
200 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Carlos Eduardo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” João Victor has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Half the programme played, position 18, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
“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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gustavo Cazonatti has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mirassol will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Eliandro
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mirassol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tiago Machado after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
10 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.
Position 19 and 6 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 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.