Marked for Simone Addessi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Sep 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Trakai 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.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Trakai
Modestas Novikovas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Sep 2031
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Addessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A quiet fortnight at Trakai
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
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 Nehemiah Oriola is on it.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nehemiah Oriola trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
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Market
The window shut and Tadas Dapkus is still in the building
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Boardroom
The Trakai production line keeps running
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Aug 2031
Suduva come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Aug 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Trakai asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas 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 dugout25 Aug 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout25 Aug 2031
Tadas Dapkus gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Aug 2031
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Tomas Paulauskas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Addessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
A loan enquiry to Zalgiris: 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
Upbeat
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Trakai have done the hard part with Suduva, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market18 Aug 2031
Justas Dapkus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Trakai asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Christian Rinaldi 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 dugout18 Aug 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match18 Aug 2031
Continental football is in reach for Trakai
25 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Aug 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Trakai people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Trakai
Paolo De Sousa Rodrigues and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Aug 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Deividas Klimavicius and Trakai agree another 3 years.
Market11 Aug 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandro Ravelli has his answer from Trakai; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Addessi 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.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
A loan enquiry to Zalgiris: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Nobody at Trakai 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.
Market11 Aug 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jul 2031
Andrius Kazlauskas damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
Aidas Mikoliunas: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Trakai and Zalgiris have settled on $71.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market21 Jul 2031
Only the photograph left for Justas Dapkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Justas Dapkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Tadas Dapkus pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Tempers go at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Addessi 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.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to Zalgiris: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kauno Zalgiris waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Trakai is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Andrius Kazlauskas damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
The clubs have shaken hands with Zalgiris; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Milan Savic: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Trakai have done the hard part with Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jun 2031
Andrius Kazlauskas damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
Nehemiah Oriola: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Jun 2031
Only the photograph left for Tadas Dapkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tadas Dapkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Zalgiris wanted more than $74.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Trakai asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas 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 dugout30 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Addessi 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
Squad16 Jun 2031
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Jun 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Trakai people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Trakai have done the hard part with Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trakai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market16 Jun 2031
No place for Tadas Dapkus in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tadas Dapkus has his answer from Trakai; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad16 Jun 2031
4 Trakai players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Jun 2031
Andrius Kazlauskas damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
A brace, and Nehemiah Oriola takes the afternoon — 8.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nehemiah Oriola provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market2 Jun 2031
“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aleksandar Popović and Trakai agree another 2 years.
Match31 May 2031
Three points for Trakai, 3‑1 the final word against Kauno Zalgiris in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
Trakai asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas 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 terraces2 Jun 2031
At 23 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 dugout2 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Feb 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
Trakai asked and Suduva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Feb 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aidas Mikoliunas commits to Trakai for another 3 years.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Simone Addessi 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Dec 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Dec 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Dec 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikola Petković commits to Trakai for another 2 years.
Squad2 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Addessi 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.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
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 dugout2 Dec 2030
Lukas Simkus 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Nov 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Nov 2030
“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Nov 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words exchanged at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas 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 dugout11 Nov 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paolo De Sousa Rodrigues, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Addessi 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.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Edgaras Jankauskas joins up with his country. Trakai lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Nov 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Nov 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aleksandar Popović and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A falling-out at Trakai
Paulius Dubickas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Simone Addessi 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 dugout4 Nov 2030
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 Nikola Petković is on it.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Oct 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davor Nedeljković
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Oct 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Oct 2030
Ales Barak hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Oct 2030
As if he never left: Simone Addessi returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Simone Addessi is a Trakai player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad21 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Oct 2030
Tadas Dapkus is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Trakai has been clear about where Tadas Dapkus stands, which is more than many ever get.