Gabriel Lopes

Central Midfielder - Nacional
2 Nov 2029
Friday
Process

Marked for Gabriel Lopes

156 Edition

The Nacional Post

23 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Julián Fabregas has said yes to IMT

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Nacional have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Filipe Soares puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Nacional, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Alexandre Guedes due for a Nacional medical

Everything agreed with Pacos de Ferreira, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

Liziero has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nacional can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Gabriel Lopes is a better footballer than he was

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Nacional

Gabriel Veron 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.

Squad

A late step up for David Costa

At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.

Squad

Chiheb Labidi 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.

The dugout

Matheus Dias 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 Nacional, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

Back issues
152 Edition

The Nacional Post

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Daniel Fonseca breaks a bone — 31 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

Rico Henry due for a Nacional medical

Everything agreed with Porto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

Filipe Soares puts it in writing

“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 Nacional, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Bahia come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Nacional did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

The step up is real for Gabriel Lopes

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Nacional

Gabriel Veron 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.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines José Gomes for 16 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Nacional will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Market

Daniel Restrepo is a Nacional player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Market

Zé Vitor linked with a move away

The name of Zé Vitor keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nacional say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

98 Edition

The Bragantino Courier

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Terms done: Eduardo is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Corinthians waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bragantino is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Bragantino say no — this time

The offer from Paysandu for Henry Mosquera 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 dugout

Ignacio Laquintana says Bragantino went back on their word

“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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Eduardo Sasha yet — 8.20

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Gabriel Lopes puts it in writing

“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 Bragantino, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Gustavo Marques wants more than Bragantino are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Bragantino

Gustavo Marques 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.

Squad

José María Herrera stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” José María Herrera and Bragantino agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Bragantino

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Figueiredo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief