The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Batumi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Batumi can pretend not to have heard.
Luka Tsulukidze 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Dinamo Batumi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luka Tsulukidze 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Batumi can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guram Japaridze is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Dinamo Batumi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dinamo Batumi have made the call to Dinamo Tbilisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Imran Oulad Omar is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guram Japaridze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Batumi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The fee is $620.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Zugdidi drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
$630.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. DAC Dunajska Streda have kept their man, and Dinamo Batumi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Torpedo Kutaisi next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Luka Tsulukidze is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Otar Daraselia, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 watch every Dinamo Batumi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Tbilisi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Dinamo Batumi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgi Kokhreidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Shota Okriashvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikheil Ananidze has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“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 Dinamo Batumi know it.
“I did not go to Dinamo Tbilisi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Dinamo Batumi and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giorgi Kokhreidze’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Batumi needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Dinamo Batumi would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Revaz Chiteishvili 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 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 Paulo Vitor is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Vitor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Batumi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Saburtalo had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Dinamo Batumi close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
Dinamo Batumi asked and Dinamo Moscow 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 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.
Sport Recife have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Irakli Rukhadze is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
6 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.
Nobody at Dinamo Batumi 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 words a physio says slowly. 22 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 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.
Dinamo Batumi have made the call to PAOK. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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 Dinamo Tbilisi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Batumi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Dinamo Batumi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dinamo Batumi offered $4.5M; Dila said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Saburtalo paid $87.0K and Dinamo Batumi took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitri Mandrîcenco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Imran Oulad Omar is on it.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Batumi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Dinamo Batumi have gone to Dila 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dila have kept their man, and Dinamo Batumi go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Dinamo Batumi know which stage they are at.
Nobody at Dinamo Batumi 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.
A season-long audition: Torpedo Kutaisi still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Dinamo Batumi's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Batumi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Luka Kapianidze 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Batumi can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guram Japaridze is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Revaz Chiteishvili 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 phone has started ringing about Mirian Zoidze again, and this time the name on the line is Shukura. Dinamo Batumi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitri Mandrîcenco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Torpedo Kutaisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Batumi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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 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.
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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kokhreidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Imran Oulad Omar is on it.
In brief
The dugoutPaulo Vitor knocks on the manager’s door
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Batumi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitri Mandrîcenco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Batumi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 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.
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.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Batumi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Luka Tsulukidze obliged against Chikhura. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Dinamo Batumi.
He is 22 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
101% of the income goes out in wages at Dinamo Batumi
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Batumi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitri Mandrîcenco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dinamo Batumi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Batumi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Batumi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Batumi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Paulo Vitor 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.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Batumi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Batumi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Batumi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Dinamo Batumi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitri Mandrîcenco 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
101% of the income goes out in wages at Dinamo Batumi
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Nobody at Dinamo Batumi 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 Dinamo Batumi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guram Japaridze is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Dinamo Batumi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitri Mandrîcenco 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 at Dinamo Batumi 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nika Kalandarishvili’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Batumi needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Batumi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mate Turmanidze reports back to Dinamo Batumi with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitri Mandrîcenco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 46. 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Táles: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $720.0K has been paid because Mohamed Cherif is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pandurii is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Batumi is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Dinamo Batumi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.