32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leixões lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Emanuel António has, at Leixões, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Position 7, 25 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miguel Reisinho provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matheus Costa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leixões the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
“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 Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leixões have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jose Barbosa has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões 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.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leixões lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Farense had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Leixões did not stop to explain themselves.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leixões have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leixões lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Werton 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estrela da Amadora keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mohamed Bamba 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 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.
Leixões asked and Reggiana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marlon Flórez reports back to Leixões with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Leixões had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AVS, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leixões has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Leixões close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Leiria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leixões is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Leixões has been clear about where Robinho 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 Morufdeen Moshood is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leixões will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Casa Pia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leixões is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leixões they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 20 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lugano have kept their man, and Leixões go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leixões will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Leixões can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Porto keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leixões they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Miguel Reisinho 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leixões will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
$440.0K settles it between the clubs for Unai Pérez
Torreense have accepted the money. What Leixões do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leixões is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leixões have done the hard part with Benfica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Paul Ferracani is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leixões will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Leixões can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
“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 Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leixões can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões 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 Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leixões, another week without a signature from Rafael Santos.
Nobody at Leixões 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leixões, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leixões heard it as anything else.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leixões, another week without a signature from Matheus Costa.
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 Morufdeen Moshood is on it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robinho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leixões will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões 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 Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Waldson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 13 on 42 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leixões will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leixões have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leixões is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leixões can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leixões will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leixões will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leixões can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leixões, another week without a signature from Matheus Costa.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leixões will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Miguel Reisinho 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Fonseca 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matheus Costa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leixões will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Matheus Costa will call it something else in private.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leixões have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Leixões ran out of time with Braga. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Víctor Guzmán 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leixões can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões 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.” Leixões have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leixões have done the hard part with Braga, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Leixões 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Chaves moved on, João Paulo reports back to Leixões, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leixões they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leixões hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
1‑4 to Pacos de Ferreira, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Leixões people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Vitoria Guimaraes have accepted the money. What Leixões do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leixões have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mohamed Bamba wants continental football; whether Leixões can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The deal with Portsmouth is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
“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 Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. João Paulo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leixões the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Leixões had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sporting CP, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Nolasco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leixões the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohamed Bamba 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 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 8.14 — 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 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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hugo Fonseca was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Leixões dressing room was either.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Santos wants continental football; whether Leixões can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
A 2‑1 win over Sporting CP B, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Miguel Sousa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Hugo Fonseca could afford to be generous.
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.
Something was said to João Paulo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mohamed Bamba wants continental football; whether Leixões can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Nolasco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leixões the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohamed Bamba 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matheus Costa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hugo Fonseca was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Leixões dressing room was either.
Nobody at Leixões is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Lusitânia Lourosa? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leixões heard it as anything else.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Leixões and AVS in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
14 combined actions and 6.79. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
“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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Hugo Fonseca to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutRodrigo Pinho asks for a word with the manager
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miguel Reisinho. 1‑0 against Farense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Hugo Fonseca could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Leixões 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Santos wants continental football; whether Leixões can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
Something was said to Mohamed Bamba and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leixões is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Mohamed Bamba 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 Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Reisinho 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hugo Fonseca was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Leixões dressing room was either.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Antônio Marcos is living that version at Leixões, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Reisinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leixões asked and Reggiana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Werton. 2‑0 against Maritimo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Leixões people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Alverca, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Leixões 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leixões they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Martins wants continental football; whether Leixões can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Andrei has agreed terms with Torreense for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Leixões asked and Casa Pia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Casa Pia have accepted the money. What Leixões do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Víctor Guzmán is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leixões they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Leixões asked and Santa Clara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
In brief
Player ratingsBubacar Djaló was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lusitânia Lourosa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leixões is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Bamba is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 29 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.
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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Moreira has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Costa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
Player ratingsWerton was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Miguel Reisinho at his very best
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leixões have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
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.
Leixões asked and Casa Pia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leixões is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 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.
Leixões asked and Portimonense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leixões they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed Bamba 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leixões have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Torreense; Leixões go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
At 23 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leixões have done the hard part with Benfica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Morufdeen Moshood trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Everything agreed with Sporting CP, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Mohamed Bamba 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 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leixões lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Casa Pia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The chase for Mohamed Bamba ended with $2.6M changing hands and Gil Vicente out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Miguel Reisinho 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 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Fábio Amaral has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Leixões have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Leixões asked and AVS said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gil Vicente lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gil Vicente 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 Gil Vicente, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Sporting CP for Samuel Portugal 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.
Héctor Hernández 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Elimbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leixões lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Leixões and Gil Vicente have settled on $2.6M. 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Filipe Sírio has, at Leixões, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Leixões had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Rodrigo Pinho 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Waldson is a Leixões player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gil Vicente lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gil Vicente can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gil Vicente is running low.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gil Vicente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A conversation is coming this week. Gil Vicente will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Gil Vicente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Elimbi 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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gil Vicente lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Gil Vicente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Bamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gil Vicente can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
32 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Gil Vicente now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gil Vicente lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Gil Vicente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gil Vicente they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Héctor Hernández 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Elimbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gil Vicente, and both men came out saying it was fine.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gil Vicente lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Gil Vicente interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Alexandre Conceicao keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gil Vicente 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 Gil Vicente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Gil Vicente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Bamba 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.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Héctor Hernández has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Gil Vicente are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gil Vicente know it.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Bamba knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gil Vicente can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gil Vicente they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Héctor Hernández 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. Weverson wants continental football; whether Gil Vicente can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Buatu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gil Vicente, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Cihan Kahraman has written the date down.
“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 Gil Vicente, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gil Vicente 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 Gil Vicente 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 Marvin Elimbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Day 9 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gil Vicente, another week without a signature from Jonathan Buatu.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gil Vicente, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gil Vicente can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gil Vicente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Héctor Hernández 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Bamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fernando Fernandes after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutLucão has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutMohamed Bamba knocks on the manager’s door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gil Vicente can pretend not to have heard.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Vitoria Guimaraes spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Vitoria Guimaraes. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gil Vicente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Héctor Hernández 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Gil Vicente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Elimbi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agustín Moreira. 1‑0 against Vitoria Guimaraes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gil Vicente can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Roda for Rony Lopes 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gil Vicente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ricardo Esgaio has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gil Vicente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Gil Vicente, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Lusitânia Lourosa is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Buatu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gil Vicente can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Nobody left the Gil Vicente dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.