1‑0 against Hammarby, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Borja Sainz was at the centre of the description.
Samu Aghehowa 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Samu Aghehowa 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Luan Patrick.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luan Patrick has just signed for Porto, and for once the answer mattered.
Borja Sainz 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jan Bednarek 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alberto Costa 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.
The fee is $4.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Nacional drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer from Wolfsberger AC for Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chuchu Ramírez has just signed for Porto, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jan Bednarek 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Henrique Silva is living that version at Porto, and it tends to show in the first month.
Gabri Veiga 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 had been thinking. Jan Bednarek 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.
Add another name to the list: Vitoria Guimaraes have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Zaidu Sanusi. The answer from Porto has not changed — yet.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The offer from Villarreal for Samu Aghehowa 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 phone has started ringing about Yann Karamoh again, and this time the name on the line is Catania. Porto are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jan Bednarek 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.