Marked for Ramires
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gonzalo Mastriani 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jefferson Luis 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ramires is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ramires 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He is 26, he is from here, and the shirt he was raised to wear has gone to somebody bought for it. The academy staff have noticed, and so has the town.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at America Mineiro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emerson Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Jefferson Luis
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad18 Jan 2027
No place for Ramires in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation America Mineiro are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Dieguinho wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and America Mineiro will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Alex Silva knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at America Mineiro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Gonzalo Mastriani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tiago Batista is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Silva 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Márcio Oliveira has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Márcio Tavares 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at America Mineiro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Luis 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ramires signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramires and America Mineiro agree another 3 years.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Dieguinho 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.