Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panetolikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
168 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Panetolikos know exactly what they have.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Panetolikos until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Lisandro Cabrera 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panetolikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with Olympiacos 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.
Lisandro Cabrera 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFI have kept their man, and Panetolikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bedri Dunga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panetolikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgos Manthatis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panetolikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Panetolikos have done the hard part with Olympiacos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Lisandro Cabrera 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raheem Edwards 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.
Panetolikos asked and Olympiacos 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 words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panetolikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Panetolikos close the window on a squad of their own making
36 in and 23 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chinedu Ekene will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panetolikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Panathinaikos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Alex Santana damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sanfrecce Hiroshima had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Santos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Felipe Augusto 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
João Palhinha 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Santos can pretend not to have heard.
4 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 offer from Atletico Goianiense for Nadson 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.
João Palhinha 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Santos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Carlos Coronel at that price
Player ratingsFelipe Augusto was on a different afternoon to everybody else