15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ventspils lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liepaja have kept their man, and Ventspils 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 Denis Nya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Vadim Kiselev is in the works
The dugoutArtur Pikk has become a man the manager trusts
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ventspils lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.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 Ventspils 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 Denis Nya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad25 Jan 2027
7 new faces, and Ventspils 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 words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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 Gibson Okocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and Ventspils go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ventspils know it.
Ventspils have made the call to Torpedo-BelAZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bendel Insurance have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Stanislav Kritsyuk is on it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ventspils know 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 Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Ventspils saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
In brief
SquadWords at Ventspils training over how hard people work
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $25.0K — a club that wants Iļja Korotkovs enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Skonto 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.
The offer went to Spartaks 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.
Ventspils offered $25.0K; Liepaja 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Gibson Okocha falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Djibril Guèye obliged against Ventspils. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Liepaja.
The offer from Cotonsport Garoua for Djibril Guèye 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liepaja is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Liepaja, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.0K — a club that wants Aleksandrs Oss enough to be asked twice.
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.
Liepaja have gone to Skonto 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chuckwudi Igbokwe has just signed for Ventspils, and for once the answer mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Praisegod Okechukwu again, and this time the name on the line is Bukovyna. Ventspils are listening politely and promising nothing.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Ventspils have gone to Liepaja 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Afonso Leite from Liepaja for $170.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taijo Teniste 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.
Ventspils asked and NK Domzale said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Helmond Sport is saying, and nobody at Liepaja is enjoying the guessing.
Bart Straalman 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.
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.
Liepaja asked and Bekescsaba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Irad Mshindi 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.
Add another name to the list: Daugavpils have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Afonso Leite. The answer from Liepaja has not changed — yet.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deal with Ikorodu City is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The offer went to Liepaja 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.
Taijo Teniste and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Osas Okoro 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.
He is 21 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ventspils know it, and so does everybody who watches him.