Marked for Mateus Mendes
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leixões is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Heinz Mörschel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iago André, and the manager let it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Rúben Pina linked with a move away
The name of Rúben Pina keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leixões say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
A door opens for Leonardo
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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Mateus Mendes knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateus Mendes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Match19 Apr 2027
Mid-table, and Leixões know it
Position 12 on 38 points, with the season drifting toward the summer. It is the safest place in football and the hardest one to sell a season ticket from.
In brief
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Squad
Alysson is the talk of the training ground
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Loan watch
Decision time nears on Werton
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Caio Secco 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alysson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Miguel Sousa knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Miguel Sousa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Mateus Mendes
“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.
Market12 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Heinz Mörschel signs something — a contract at Leixões or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leixões. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market12 Apr 2027
Leixões have let the market know Igor Stefanović can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
A one-man rearguard from Caio Secco
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match27 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Leixões's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leixões has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Leixões
Nehuén Pérez 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Heinz Mörschel 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Leixões leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match27 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Leixões against Leiria
0‑2 to Leiria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miguel Sousa, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leixões can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Mar 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Manu beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Leixões
Caio Secco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alysson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Leixões are still strangers to each other
7 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateus Mendes, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Leixões will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Allam Wlk scores twice — 8.74
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.98 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Leixões right now
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Manu 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Allam Wlk. 3‑2 against Porto B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Heinz Mörschel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
He is 19 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Caio Secco
“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.