Marked for Afonso Leite
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
Liepaja say no — this time
The offer from Skonto for Danijel Petković 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Liepaja people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Iļja Korotkovs had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Liepaja are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Liepaja
Andriy Korobenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Liepaja asked and Dinamo Stavropol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market11 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Afonso Leite again, and this time the name on the line is Metta/LU. Liepaja are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Beknaz Almazbekov, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Radnicki Nis 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A move Mamadou Sawané would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mamadou Sawané is living that version at Metta/LU, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Jelgava 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Metta/LU
Mahamud Abdul Karimu 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Metta/LU asked and Skonto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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 Metta/LU know it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Metta/LU
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Scremin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmad Nafiu, and the manager let it.
Market11 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Metta/LU, another week without a signature from Ahmad Nafiu.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Liepaja: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Daugavpils will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Afonso Leite 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Gļebs Mihaļcovs 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Elijah Addai gets picked when it counts
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 Elijah Addai is on it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The training reports on Elijah Addai are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets2 Nov 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Liepaja game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Daugavpils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Andriy Korobenko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Liepaja 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Daugavpils will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Daugavpils, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Daugavpils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ceti Junior Tchibinda 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andriy Korobenko 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Daugavpils to sit and watch. I want to come back to Liepaja and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Bart Straalman 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Daugavpils will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Daugavpils
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ceti Junior Tchibinda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Afonso Leite 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.