Marked for Wenderson
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Rasmus Wikström: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IF Elfsborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IF Elfsborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and IF Elfsborg have had the benefit of it.
Market3 Jan 2028
The bid was some way short and IF Elfsborg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Sebastian Holmén and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at IF Elfsborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taylor Silverholt 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.
Market3 Jan 2028
Wenderson comes back from a loan that worked
33 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Wenderson is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Wenderson 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.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Ludvig Richtnér: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IF Elfsborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ari Sigurpálsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ari Sigurpálsson, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Theo Sander asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market20 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rasmus Wikström signs something — a contract at IF Elfsborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IF Elfsborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Jonathan Edenvik is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ari Sigurpálsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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.
Market22 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rasmus Wikström signs something — a contract at IF Elfsborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes Dion Krasniqi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IF Elfsborg. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriel Pires
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Avaí lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Gaspar breaks a bone — 16 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avaí is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Avaí
Zé Ricardo 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Edu stands above it all
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the Avaí support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sérgio Barbosa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Avaí dressing room was either.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Igor Bohn
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Avaí lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avaí is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. João Victor is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match18 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Avaí
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match18 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Avaí
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.
Market20 Sep 2027
Avaí may not be able to give Wallison what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Wallison wants continental football; whether Avaí can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Avaí
Luiz Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Avaí told Matheus Pereira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Wenderson is still paying for one afternoon at Avaí
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Avaí people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Avaí — 7.93
1 for Wenderson, marked 7.93, 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Alef Manga has a hand in both — 7.82
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.82, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Avaí 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Allyson is slowing down
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Avaí asked and Avispa Fukuoka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Jun 2027
Paysandu made Avaí work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Avaí
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Allyson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$9.4M settles it between the clubs for Matheus Pereira
Cruzeiro have accepted the money. What Avaí do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match12 Jun 2027
Chastening afternoon for Avaí
A 0‑3 beating by Fortaleza was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match8 Jun 2027
3‑0, and Wenderson took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Avaí tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gaspar had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 Avaí, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Jun 2027
The fee is $560.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Ferroviária drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferroviária have kept their man, and Avaí go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Avaí
Luiz Henrique 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.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Luiz Henrique in the eights
-
Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Alef Manga at his very best
-
Player ratings
Wenderson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Apr 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Avaí can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Avaí
Luiz Henrique 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Wenderson beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Renato Figueiredo and Avaí agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match24 Apr 2027
Avaí and Ceará cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Ceará came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Remo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market26 Apr 2027
The Igor Bohn talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Avaí know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The plan did not have a place for Allyson
Nobody at Avaí is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avaí they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matheus Jussa and Avaí agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Wenderson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avaí this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I watch every Avaí game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Remo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Daniel Penha has moved up it.
Market5 Apr 2027
Otávio Passos is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Avaí has been clear about where Otávio Passos stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Avaí
Wenderson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Hyan out for 40 days
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Hyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market15 Feb 2027
The Del Piage conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Wuhan Three Towns will make the call about Del Piage this week. Avaí have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Gaspar asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market15 Feb 2027
The Jean Lucas talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Avaí know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Felipe Avenatti out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avaí will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Dec 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Avaí have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Avaí have done the hard part with Palmeiras, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avaí this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Vitória: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
When it matters, Gaspar plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Allyson knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Allyson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Dec 2026
The Alef Manga question follows Avaí around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alef Manga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Competition arrives for Wenderson
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Avaí have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avaí this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Avaí training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Penha 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Avaí
Something was said to Wenderson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Gaspar gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Gaspar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Avaí 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Wesley Gasolina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Avaí needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Alef Manga question follows Avaí around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alef Manga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Igor Bohn wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Avaí have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Sep 2026
Luiz Henrique has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avaí they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luiz Henrique has agreed terms with Cuiabá for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Allyson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Avaí
Luiz Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Avaí
15 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Wenderson knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Wenderson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sérgio Barbosa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Avaí dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wallison and Avaí agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Avaí
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Allyson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Avaí, another week without a signature from Luiz Henrique.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Wenderson has moved up it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clock does Luiz Henrique’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Avaí could ask drops and the wages Luiz Henrique can ask rise.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Wallison story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wallison signs something — a contract at Avaí or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market7 Sep 2026
Avaí have let the market know Otávio Passos can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.