The words a physio says slowly. 64 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 Farense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Farense can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Lucas Fernandes 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.
“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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
5 new faces, and Farense 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 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 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
The offer from Benfica for Joseph Nduquidi 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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Up for the corner, and Sabit Abdulai delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sabit Abdulai scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Farense 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.
Lucas Fernandes 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marcos Vinicius has, at Farense, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Farense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Rafael Nel is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market27 Aug 2029
Farense may not be able to give Manu what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Manu wants continental football; whether Farense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Farense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Farense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu 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 words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
“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 Farense, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Farense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Farense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Farense asked and Famalicao 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Farense heard it as anything else.
Lucas Fernandes 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Omari Benjamin is living that version at Farense, and it tends to show in the first month.
Yannick Ngongang is 20, and Farense have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Farense can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Famalicao have kept their man, and Farense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nailson has agreed terms with AVS for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Sarpreet Singh 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 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Farense know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Farense and Famalicao have settled on $4.3M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Farense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Farense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Zé Vitor was one of the reasons people came, and $6.2M does not replace that by itself.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Farense 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 Farense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Lucas D'Agrella again, and this time the name on the line is Leixões. Farense are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadWords at Farense training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bruno Ramos
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Farense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 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.
“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 Farense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Farense offered $7.6M; Porto 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.
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Farense 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have shaken hands with Benfica; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Farense asked and Porto 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 Sturm Graz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Farense 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 Lucas Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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 offer went to Benfica this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Famalicao is saying, and nobody at Farense is enjoying the guessing.
Farense asked and Porto 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 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Farense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Farense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to Famalicao this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Farense asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Zé Vitor 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.
8 goals in one match, Gabriel Novaes on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Farense and Benfica B.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Farense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Rio Ave for Gabriel Novaes 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torreense have kept their man, and Farense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Farense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Farense can pretend not to have heard.
7.82, 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Farense have had the benefit of it.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Farense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense 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 Farense, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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 Farense 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 Farense, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Farense hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Zé Vitor 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 Farense know it.
“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.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Zé Vitor 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cláudio Falcão, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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 Julien Mathieu left the room before anybody could ask which.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Farense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Up for the corner, and Sabit Abdulai delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sabit Abdulai scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Farense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Position 3, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Farense 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.” Farense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Zé Vitor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Farense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sabit Abdulai 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 words a physio says slowly. 82 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. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Farense can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Zé Vitor 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Farense will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Novaes. 3‑2 against Penafiel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Farense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Zé Vitor 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gonzalo Pastor provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Farense 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 Sabit Abdulai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Fernandes. 1‑0 against Pacos de Ferreira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Farense 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.” Farense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Farense hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Sabit Abdulai 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Farense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Farense can pretend not to have heard.
Zé Vitor 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Gabriel Novaes had Farense level again within 4 minutes, and Leixões never got to play with a lead at all.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Gabriel Barbosa scored in the 87th minute, Torreense had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Farense took the lot.
Zé Vitor 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.56, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sabit Abdulai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Torreense made Farense work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Gabriel Barbosa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. 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.
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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Farense can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Farense 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 Farense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Farense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sabit Abdulai 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Farense told Gabriel Barbosa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Farense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Farense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Farense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Zé Vitor 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Miguel Menino has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Farense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Farense can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Harold Preciado 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Sabit Abdulai 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Farense, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Zé Vitor is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fabijan Buntić signs something — a contract at Farense 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.
“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 Farense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Farense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Harold Preciado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Farense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sabit Abdulai 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 Farense 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 Joseph Nduquidi signs something — a contract at Farense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadAndré Candeias is training like a man with a point to make