“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
“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 The request is on a desk at Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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 name of Kadir Barría has come up in conversations Botafogo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A brace, and Arthur Cabral takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arthur Cabral provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. André Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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: 16. 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.
Something was said to João Pedro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Dodo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Roberto Álvarez after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álvaro Montoro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Vasco da Gama had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Botafogo.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Cristian Medina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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 Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Cristian Medina’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Botafogo.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Cristian Medina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.19, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Dodo 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 Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Roberto Álvarez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Botafogo told Gabriel Taliari something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dodo 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Léo Linck now has 26 of them across 101 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. André Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Botafogo can tell you which week it ends in.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Botafogo told Lucas Villalba something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gui Meira has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dodo 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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 Botafogo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álvaro Montoro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Marked 6.91 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
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 Roberto Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gabriel Taliari decided nobody was going anywhere. São Paulo had no time left to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo 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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mario García is living that version at Botafogo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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.
Juventude will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jean Irmer has pre-agreed a move to Botafogo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Taliari. 1‑0 against São Paulo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo 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 Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dodo 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.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Arthur Cabral was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.74. 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.
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Position 6, 32 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonathan Calleri 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 Botafogo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Álvaro Montoro. 1‑0 against Atlético Mineiro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
6 new faces, and Botafogo 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 dugout20 Aug 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Roberto Álvarez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 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 Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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.
3 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.
“I did not go to Yokohama F. Marinos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Botafogo and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dodo 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 Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Botafogo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kadir Barría had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Botafogo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.62 for the rest of it.
The offer from Palestino for Lucas Duarte 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.
3 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.
Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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 phone has started ringing about Kadir Barría again, and this time the name on the line is Independiente Rivadavia. Botafogo are listening politely and promising nothing.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gui Meira decided nobody was going anywhere. São Paulo had no time left to answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. André Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his name.
In brief
SquadCristian Medina falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
Dodo 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. Ceará have kept their man, and Botafogo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kady Borges has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atletico Goianiense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Botafogo have done the hard part with Vasco da Gama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Botafogo offered $750.0K; Cruzeiro 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.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Botafogo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Independiente Rivadavia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer went to Nautico 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.
$700.0K on the table at Cruzeiro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Botafogo offered $500.0K; Flamengo 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.99, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sport Recife waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Bragantino; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bragantino have kept their man, and Botafogo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Instituto for Kadir Barría 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.
Botafogo have gone to Fortaleza 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Dodo 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 Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Yokohama F. Marinos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Botafogo and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jonathan Calleri has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Dodo has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Botafogo are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
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 target is the manager, the approach is real, and the compensation clause is the whole conversation. Clubs deny this kind of story right up until the photograph.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonathan Calleri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
7.58, 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.
Day 36 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Jonathan Calleri 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.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Botafogo and Santa Cruz in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dodo 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.
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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
André Silva was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. 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.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The 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.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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.
A 2‑1 win over Santos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Arthur Cabral was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vitor Hugo has his answer from Botafogo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” José Silva on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Botafogo had all but put away. São Paulo will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Jonathan Calleri 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 Dodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Day 8 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Arthur Cabral. 1‑0 against Vitória, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Dodo has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Botafogo are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dodo 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 Apr 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Willian Nardo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matheus Xavier is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 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 Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
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 watch every Botafogo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Yokohama F. Marinos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonathan Calleri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Mateo Ponte is on it.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Guilherme Teixeira has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botafogo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dodo 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 dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Kaio Pantaleão's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Dodo's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Dodo 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arthur Cabral trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jonathan Calleri 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dodo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arthur Cabral trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Botafogo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Botafogo, 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 Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitinho 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 Botafogo, another week without a signature from Álvaro Montoro.
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 Mateo Ponte is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Botafogo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dodo 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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 Botafogo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Allan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Botafogo and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dodo 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 Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Botafogo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Yuri Leles is on it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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 Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dodo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Mateo Ponte is on it.
Álvaro Montoro has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Botafogo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Anderson again, and this time the name on the line is Adana Demirspor. Botafogo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Botafogo 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.
Dodo 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 Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arthur Cabral trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Botafogo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kayke had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo 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 Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Botafogo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Botafogo 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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Botafogo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Instituto had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Adana Demirspor for Kayke 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.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Botafogo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 11 on 56 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.83 beside his name.
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.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
Dodo 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.
17 goals in 23 games at Deportivo Maldonado — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nautico waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1 for Dodo, marked 7.90, 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.
The offer from Bahia for Lucas Monzón 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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Corinthians; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
Add another name to the list: Bahia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lucas Monzón. The answer from Botafogo has not changed — yet.
134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Botafogo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Álvaro Montoro did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Dodo 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cristian Medina provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Dodo 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.
17 goals in 23 games at Deportivo Maldonado — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo 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 Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Álvaro Montoro has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Botafogo told Kady Borges something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A brace, and Kady Borges takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kady Borges provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Danilo scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Cruzeiro, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Guilherme Teixeira to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Botafogo deserved better, and so did he.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.85, 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.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Dodo 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 7.90, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo 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 Botafogo 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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.
“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 Botafogo, and 6 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
Dodo 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Guilherme Teixeira to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.98, and 2 involvements.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
Corinthians go through and Botafogo go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Napredak for Cássio Acosta 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Botafogo 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 Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Calleri. 3‑1 against Mirassol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botafogo 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. Botafogo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Stênio has, at Botafogo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Dodo 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 watch every Botafogo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alanyaspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Botafogo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Paes has, at Botafogo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Botafogo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Chris Ramos to Parana has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Botafogo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Botafogo had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cruzeiro, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Cristhian Loor has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
0‑2 to Flamengo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Guilherme Teixeira to a room that had heard them before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Iquique waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Botafogo close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 5 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
A brace, and Arthur Cabral takes the afternoon — 9.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arthur Cabral provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Botafogo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
26 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Up for the corner, and Kady Borges delivers — 7.91
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kady Borges scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Dodo 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Carlos Júnior obliged against Santos. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Botafogo.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Botafogo scored in the 116th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. João Pedro has, at Botafogo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Hapoel Haifa 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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Fluminense for Álvaro Montoro 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Botafogo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Botafogo have gone to Santos 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.
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.
Botafogo asked and Fluminense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sport Recife have accepted the money. What Botafogo 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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $1.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cruzeiro drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dodo 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. Vasco da Gama have kept their man, and Botafogo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Parana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Juventude have accepted the money. What Botafogo 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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Botafogo have done the hard part with Cruzeiro, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$1.8M was the most the club would pay and Vasco da Gama 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.
Botafogo asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Cruzeiro; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Botafogo have gone to Juventude 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.
$1.4M on the table at Cruzeiro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Botafogo have gone to Vasco da Gama 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Marçal has agreed terms with Cruzeiro for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next 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 Botafogo 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 Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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.
“I watch every Botafogo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Metalist runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Guilherme Teixeira kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arthur Cabral trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and André Silva obliged against Criciuma. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Botafogo.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yuri Leles did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botafogo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Fluminense; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Dodo 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 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Jonathan Calleri scored in the 88th minute, Sport Recife had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Botafogo took the lot.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jacaré is living that version at Botafogo, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luan Polli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Dodo 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 Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Santos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Flávio has pre-agreed a move to Botafogo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I watch every Botafogo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Metalist runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artur trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutMateo Ponte has become a man the manager trusts
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Botafogo scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcelo Figueiredo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matheus Porto has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botafogo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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.
Fortaleza will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Reverson has pre-agreed a move to Botafogo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Botafogo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Botafogo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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.
Grêmio will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dodô has pre-agreed a move to Botafogo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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 Vitor Eudes is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Gonzalo Escobar has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Botafogo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Botafogo has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Botafogo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
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 Giuliano is on it.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo 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 Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Gabriel Barros has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Botafogo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luan Polli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Dodo 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Blas Rolón has just signed for Botafogo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Botafogo have gone and got theirs early.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Giuliano has agreed terms with Bragantino for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Botafogo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Botafogo 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Botafogo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Botafogo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Maldonado runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
The offer from Sparta Prague for Pedro de la Vega 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.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Samuel Soares is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolás Ibáñez has just signed for Fiorentina, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Fiorentina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.