He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $53.5K of what Flamengo paid for Clayton Sampaio is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 The request is on a desk at Flamengo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Machado will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamengo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Confiança waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Flamengo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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 The request is on a desk at Flamengo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.61, and 2 involvements.
In brief
SquadWords at Flamengo training over how hard people work
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirassol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol 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 Mirassol 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 Bruno Altamiranda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Pablo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mirassol needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirassol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marco Vicente is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol 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 Mirassol 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Mirassol know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marco Vicente has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
26 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Altamiranda 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kauã Rodrigo has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
24 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces6 Aug 2035
The mood at Mirassol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Atlético Mineiro the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Mirassol will enjoy reviewing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol 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 Mirassol 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. Valentín Dutruel has, at Mirassol, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Wallace Yan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamengo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Flamengo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from CSA for Pablo 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.
This is not rotation. Erick Noriega has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Flamengo is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Words at Flamengo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace Yan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamengo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Flamengo have gone to São Paulo 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.
The offer went to Bragantino 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.
The phone has started ringing about Felipe Augusto again, and this time the name on the line is Anderlecht. Flamengo are listening politely and promising nothing.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
$960.0K on the table at Náutico. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and América de Natal were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
24 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.
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 May 2035
Wallace Yan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
“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 Flamengo, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Flamengo has been clear about where Pablo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Wallace Yan is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadWords at Flamengo training over how hard people work
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamengo 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 Flamengo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Weimar Vivas 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 watch every Flamengo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Imperatriz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Felipe Augusto is on it.
101 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamengo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamengo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Wallace Yan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Flamengo, another week without a signature from Gabriel Pec.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Christian has written the date down.
The name of Tiago Santos has come up in conversations Flamengo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamengo 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 Flamengo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Flamengo 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.
In brief
SquadWeimar Vivas falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vila Nova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Vila Nova, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Victão has agreed terms with Internacional for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Lucas Yan 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at Vila Nova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel 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.
12 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Joinville. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marlom, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Halls's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Tiago Santos 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ruan Ribeiro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamengo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Flamengo has been clear about where Isaac stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Flamengo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Felipe Augusto has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Coritiba next, and one man in the Flamengo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Igor Jesus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vila Nova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Emerson Urso and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Gabriel Souza 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: 17. 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.
10 goals in 28 games at Azuriz — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vila Nova updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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 Tiago Santos is on it.
10 goals in 24 games at Azuriz — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Flamengo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Flamengo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
5 goals in 20 games at Vila Nova — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Flamengo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Flamengo would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.