Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emanuele Granziera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Braga B the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rúben Furtado 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Braga B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyanno Silva 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Braga B, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tiago Sá signs something — a contract at Braga B or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The name of Gabriel Silva has come up in conversations Braga B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Jónatas Noro 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Gabriel Silva 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
At 21 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.
Rúben Furtado 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Braga B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Silva 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.86, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Braga B will try not to make too much of it.
Jónatas Noro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Gabriel Silva 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 have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Braga B will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Samuel Sousa has his answer from Braga B; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Braga B, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Braga B would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nuno Correia 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Silva. 2‑0 against Oliveirense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Braga B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rúben Furtado 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Miguel Soares could afford to be generous.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.41 for the rest of it.
Adrian Bajrami 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.
At 21 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Braga B and Amarante, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The name of Demir Ege Tıknaz has come up in conversations Braga B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nuno Correia 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.