Words at Flamengo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorginho 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.
Something was said to Álvaro Montoro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Léo Ortiz signs something — a contract at Flamengo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Díaz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fortaleza next, and one man in the Flamengo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
5 clean sheets from 11 appearances at Liverpool Montevideo. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Warleson had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamengo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Flamengo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorginho 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad4 Sep 2028
10 new faces, and Flamengo 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 dugout4 Sep 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 0‑1 Thiago Neves left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Loan watchLéo Nannetti’s loan is measured in nothing happening
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Doutor did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
At 21 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.
Add another name to the list: Estrela da Amadora have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Warleson. The answer from Flamengo has not changed — yet.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Flamengo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Caballero 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 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.
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.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Thiago Neves was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Flamengo dressing room was either.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ramires has agreed terms with Amazonas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Álvaro Montoro 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 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 Flamengo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Warleson has, at Flamengo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Flamengo can tell you which week it ends in.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Flamengo will try again when the window opens; Cruzeiro may not be selling by then.
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Flamengo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Caballero 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
Squad10 new faces, and Flamengo are still learning each other
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Juventude moved on, Warleson reports back to Remo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ítalo is living that version at Remo, and it tends to show in the first month.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Perotti has come up in conversations Remo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Remo close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 3 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.
The fee is $120.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Ferroviário drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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.
The offer from Bragantino for Perotti 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.
6 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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Remo can tell you which week it ends in.
The chase for Carlos Miguel ended with $590.0K changing hands and Pouso Alegre out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The shirt still fits. Wallace is back at Remo, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Leonel Picco 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.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and Chapecoense were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Remo is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Botafogo-SP waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Flamengo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamengo can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Operário Ferroviário have kept their man, and Flamengo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Flamengo have gone to Cruzeiro with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luis Eduardo is living that version at Flamengo, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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.
The offer from Atlético Mineiro for Warleson 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.
“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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
$10.0K was the most the club would pay and Athletico Paranaense were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“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 Remo know it.
Paysandu will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. John Echavez has pre-agreed a move to Remo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volta Redonda have kept their man, and Remo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match10 Jun 2028
Carlos Júnior wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Carlos Júnior found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Central went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Ituano have accepted the money. What Remo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matheus Frizzo scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Perotti 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.
Remo have gone to Goianésia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Remo have gone to Athletico Paranaense with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Remo asked and Maracanã said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Maurício wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Maurício found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Londrina went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The phone has started ringing about João Almeida again, and this time the name on the line is Nova Iguaçu. Remo are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo 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 Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Maurício was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Renato Batista after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Novorizontino defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
Leonel Picco 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Remo can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 Remo, and 4 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Warleson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Pedro Rocha 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.
0‑1 to São Paulo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 May 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 0‑1 Renato Batista left the room before anybody could ask which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 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.
Pedro Rocha 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Remo, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Remo, another week without a signature from Warleson.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo 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 Remo 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 Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Remo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Uberlândia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Leonel Picco has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Pedro Rocha is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo can pretend not to have heard.
Leonel Picco 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“I watch every Flamengo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Náutico runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Flamengo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Santino Cavagna has just signed for Remo, and for once the answer mattered.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo 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 Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
Nobody at Remo 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 Leonel Picco signs something — a contract at Remo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Remo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Leonel Picco’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo they have already started talking about him 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 Remo can pretend not to have heard.
Leonel Picco 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 had been thinking. Duplexe Tchamba 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Warleson signs something — a contract at Remo 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 Remo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutMárcio Silva knocks on the manager's door
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.
“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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Remo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Remo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Uberlândia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Remo have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Remo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Remo 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 Leonel Picco signs something — a contract at Remo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ramon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Remo than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv for Warleson 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 Remo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duplexe Tchamba 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 Remo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo 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 Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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 at Remo 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 Leonel Picco signs something — a contract at Remo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uberlândia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Remo had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Remo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Remo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo 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 Remo can pretend not to have heard.
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 Remo have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 26 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Remo 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 Remo can pretend not to have heard.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonel Picco 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo can pretend not to have heard.
Pedro Rocha 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 Leonel Picco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonel Picco 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.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Pedro Rocha 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 had been thinking. Leonel Picco 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Remo, another week without a signature from Warleson.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for João Almeida
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. João Almeida has come out of that comparison in the side, and Remo have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Pedro Rocha is on it.
In brief
The dugoutLeonel Picco knocks on the manager's door
14 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Remo can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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 from Ludogorets for Warleson 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.
Pedro Rocha 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Leonel Picco 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.
13 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Pedro Rocha 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Remo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Leonel Picco 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruzeiro have kept their man, and Remo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
13 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.
11 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Remo can tell you which week it ends in.
The offer from Ponferradina for Leonel Picco 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.
Leonel Picco 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente have kept their man, and Remo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Duplexe Tchamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Remo can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 Remo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo 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. Matheus Frizzo wants continental football; whether Remo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Leonel Picco 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Denzel had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deal that would have taken Jaderson to Sport Recife has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Remo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The deal with Ponte Preta 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.
Remo asked and CSKA Moscow 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 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.
1 for Patrick de Paula, marked 7.88, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Leonel Picco 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.
Remo asked and Estoril Praia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Remo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Leonel Picco 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Remo asked and Stade Rennais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Remo have made the call to Estoril Praia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Boardroom89% of the income goes out in wages at Remo
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Remo 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 Remo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonel Picco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Remo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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 Remo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Carlos Júnior wants continental football; whether Remo 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 Remo 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.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Remo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Remo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Pedro Rocha 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 Leonel Picco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Remo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Pedro Rocha 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 had been thinking. Leonel Picco 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Remo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Remo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Argentinos Juniors waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Remo 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. Coritiba have kept their man, and Remo go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Remo, another week without a signature from Warleson.
In brief
The dugoutDenzel has become a man the manager trusts
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Remo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Avaí 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Argentinos Juniors will make the call about Leonel Picco this week. Remo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonel Picco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Patrick de Paula 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 club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Remo have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
125 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Remo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Leonel Picco 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 had been thinking. Jaderson 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 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Remo 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.
Patrick de Paula 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.
At 20 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaderson 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Remo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonel Picco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yago Pikachu 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Remo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Marcelo is living that version at Remo, and it tends to show in the first month.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Remo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Leonel Picco 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Lang 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.