“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitoria Guimaraes 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 Vitoria Guimaraes hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fredrik Aursnes 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vitoria Guimaraes and Casa Pia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
20 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Bruno Reis to a room that had heard them before.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes 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 Vitoria Guimaraes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Vitoria Guimaraes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ruch runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitoria Guimaraes has been clear about where Miguel Nóbrega stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
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.
2‑1 against KV Oostende, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Fredrik Aursnes was at the centre of the description.
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 7.71 for the rest of it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gonçalo Nogueira 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.
Fredrik Aursnes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Gustavo Silva will call it something else in private.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitoria Guimaraes 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 Vitoria Guimaraes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes can tell you which week it ends in.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitoria Guimaraes has been clear about where Alioune Ndoye stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Migouel Alfarela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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 Bruno Reis left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitoria Guimaraes, another week without a signature from Leandro Antonetti.
In brief
The dugoutLohann Doucet has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitoria Guimaraes can pretend not to have heard.
The shirt still fits. Adrián Butzke is back at Vitoria Guimaraes, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Adrián Butzke has, at Vitoria Guimaraes, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Furtado will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitoria Guimaraes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gustavo Silva 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 offer went to Farense 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fredrik Aursnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandro Antonetti and Vitoria Guimaraes agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Cho Gue-Sung is in the works
The chase for Lazar Carević ended with $6.5M changing hands and Famalicao out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Estrela da Amadora asked and Felgueiras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Rio Ave drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Vitoria Guimaraes pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estrela da Amadora 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.
Estrela da Amadora have made the call to Corinthians. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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; Estrela da Amadora are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
$2.2M on the table at Maritimo. 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitoria Guimaraes can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitoria Guimaraes have done the hard part with Monaco, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitoria Guimaraes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vitoria Guimaraes asked and Cruzeiro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlos Nascimento 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rui Borges 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Villela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chase for Tiago Leite ended with $3.5M changing hands and Felgueiras out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Alessandro Circati 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.
Portimonense pay $200.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joan Jordán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Estrela da Amadora asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
5 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Estrela da Amadora are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitoria Guimaraes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Estrela da Amadora have accepted the money. What Vitoria Guimaraes do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Corinthians keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fredrik Aursnes 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 clubs have shaken hands with Felgueiras; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$6.5M on the table at Famalicao. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Leandro Antonetti reports back to Estrela da Amadora with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Estrela da Amadora had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Corinthians, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Luan Patrick 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Como have kept their man, and Estrela da Amadora go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Olympiacos for Juan Diego Castillo 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.
Everything was agreed with Estrela da Amadora and then the doctor spoke. Vitoria Guimaraes have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alverca have kept their man, and Vitoria Guimaraes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cruzeiro is saying, and nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alioune Ndoye and Vitoria Guimaraes agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fredrik Aursnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Estrela da Amadora, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Antonetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estrela da Amadora the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 22 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.
The deal with Bournemouth 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estrela da Amadora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Joan Jordán 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.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Estrela da Amadora people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Estrela da Amadora have gone to Vitoria Guimaraes 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Benfica is saying, and nobody at Estrela da Amadora is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Clayton and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Joan Jordán 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.
Estrela da Amadora have made the call to Benfica. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Estrela da Amadora will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Antonetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estrela da Amadora 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 Estrela da Amadora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Máximo Gutierrez has, at Estrela da Amadora, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renan Ribeiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Estrela da Amadora, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Estrela da Amadora 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.” Estrela da Amadora have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joan Jordán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Estrela da Amadora is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Clayton 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.
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Estrela da Amadora know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Joan Jordán 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ni Rodrigues and Estrela da Amadora agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estrela da Amadora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Renan Ribeiro 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.
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 Leandro Antonetti is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robinho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luan Patrick signs something — a contract at Estrela da Amadora or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Estrela da Amadora. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 10 on 41 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jeferson and Estrela da Amadora agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Joan Jordán 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Clayton provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Estrela da Amadora is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Estrela da Amadora know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Clayton. 2‑1 against Vitoria Guimaraes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Renan Ribeiro
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Yahya Kalley
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estrela da Amadora 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 Joan Jordán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 goals in 24 games at Zwolle — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Estrela da Amadora updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Leonardo Reis was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Estrela da Amadora dressing room was either.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Max Scholze
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Estrela da Amadora is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Antonetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estrela da Amadora the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Estrela da Amadora, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Estrela da Amadora until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Estrela da Amadora has to find a result from somewhere.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Estrela da Amadora people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Clayton provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Lovro Zvonarek, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.22
A mark of 8.22 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Boca Juniors 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at Estrela da Amadora is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estrela da Amadora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Clayton on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Estrela da Amadora and Estoril Praia.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeremy Arévalo did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Estrela da Amadora had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Flamengo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Clayton and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Joan Jordán 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.
7 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.
“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 Estrela da Amadora, and it is not being withdrawn.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Estrela da Amadora know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Joan Jordán 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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andre Simoes 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. Tiago Fonseca 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marco Pinto 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.
“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 Estrela da Amadora, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lovro Zvonarek did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Jeremy Arévalo 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.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Estrela da Amadora know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renan Ribeiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lovro Zvonarek 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.
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Estrela da Amadora will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Clayton 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.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Estrela da Amadora know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Joan Jordán 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.
“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 Estrela da Amadora, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The 3-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Leandro Antonetti was at the centre of it, Santa Clara were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Clayton 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
A performance of 9.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Joan Jordán 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Leandro Antonetti 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.
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 7.71 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joan Jordán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Leonardo Reis after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
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.
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.
Renan Ribeiro 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 Joan Jordán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Lovro Zvonarek, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Joan Jordán 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luan Patrick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lovro Zvonarek 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Estoril Praia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Leonardo Reis, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.