14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ludogorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Caio Vidal 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Gudelj 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.
“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; Ludogorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
1‑1 against Zeleznicar Pancevo, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Aguibou Camara was at the centre of the description.
“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 The request is on a desk at Ludogorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefano Sensi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ludogorets 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 Ludogorets 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.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ludogorets can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Janson is living that version at Ludogorets, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ludogorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Caio Vidal 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jerónimo Pourtau wants continental football; whether Ludogorets can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Lokomotiv Sofia will make the call about Edvin Kurtuluş this week. Ludogorets have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“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 Ludogorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Caio Vidal 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Gudelj 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Dobrudzha will make the call about Anton Nedyalkov this week. Ludogorets have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ludogorets 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 Ludogorets 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ludogorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. João Silva has agreed terms with Botev Plovdiv for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Lokomotiv Sofia moved on, Edvin Kurtuluş reports back to Ludogorets, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ludogorets can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ludogorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luca Raffin is living that version at Ludogorets, and it tends to show in the first month.
Caio Vidal 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jerónimo Pourtau wants continental football; whether Ludogorets can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Gudelj 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rosario Central can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giovanni Cantizano and Rosario Central agree another 5 years.
Maximiliano Lovera 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Franco Ibarra 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.
19 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.