$3.7M settles it between the clubs for João Valido
Sporting CP have accepted the money. What Braga do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Braga asked and Porto 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 Braga can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Braga hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at Braga has worked with Caleb Yirenkyi before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Braga, another week without a signature from Luís Guilherme.
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 Bernardo Fontes is on 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 Braga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Rayan arrives at Porto in a $71.0M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Porto have paid $71.0M for Rayan, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The chase for Gianluca Prestianni ended with $15.1M changing hands and Braga out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Porto asked and Braga 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 Porto can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rayan has, at Porto, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Borja Sainz 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.
Rayan was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $71.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Braga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Porto have accepted the money. What Braga do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Sporting CP did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $7.6M for Luís Guilherme, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Braga have done the hard part with Vitoria Guimaraes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Braga asked and Académico de Viseu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Braga, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Gianluca Prestianni again, and this time the name on the line is Porto. Braga are listening politely and promising nothing.
The new man at Braga has worked with Caleb Yirenkyi before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Everything agreed with Manchester City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal have kept their man, and Porto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $27.3M has been paid because Théo Hernández is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The chase for Gabri Martínez ended with $11.1M changing hands and Braga out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gabriel Veron had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Théo Hernández has, at Porto, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Borja Sainz 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 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 Riquelme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. CRB had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Something was said to Luiz Andrade and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Guarani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Guarani may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Matias Ludueña, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guarani 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Guarani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Pietuszewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guarani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Luiz Andrade is on 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 Guarani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
23 goals in 38 games at Cultural Leonesa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Porto updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
10 shut-outs in 27 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Diogo Fernandes has been having a lot of them.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Porto has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
4‑1, and Tomás Jerez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Guarani tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings8 May 2028
A brace, and Nathan Melo takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nathan Melo provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Guarani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafael Donato and Guarani agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riquelme 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 helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Mirassol tried to reorganise, Guarani did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
João Victor 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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cuiabá kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Guarani will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 Guarani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 7.69 for the rest of it.
Isaque 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Pietuszewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rafael Freitas 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 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Willian Amaral left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Isaque provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oskar Pietuszewski did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Guarani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riquelme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rafael Freitas 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.
He is 19 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.
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 Porto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ricardo Monteiro 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fernando Marques 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Francisco Rodrigues 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Benfica on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
“I watch every Porto game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Guarani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Isaque 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rafael Freitas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Guarani 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 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 Fabrício Dias has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Guarani know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Oskar Pietuszewski 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 Riquelme 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 Guilherme Cachoeira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Guarani than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Pietuszewski 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 Guarani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Caíque França signs something — a contract at Guarani or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Porto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Borja Sainz 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Antonio Costa 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luis Mendes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
MarketOne of our own: Nuno Mota joins the Porto first team
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Borja Sainz at his very best
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Guarani 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.
Rafael Freitas 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.
Nobody at Guarani 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Guarani. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Guarani 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 Guarani can pretend not to have heard.
Isaque and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
Guarani asked and Confiança said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Isaque trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Guarani offered $11.7M; Bragantino 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Guarani had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bahia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Guarani have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deal that would have taken Fred Conte to Náutico has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Guarani with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Guarani are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Guarani had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bragantino, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Guarani 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 Guarani 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 Oskar Pietuszewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santos have kept their man, and Guarani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Guarani have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boca Juniors 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nathan Melo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flamengo is saying, and nobody at Guarani is enjoying the guessing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Guarani have done the hard part with CRB, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Guarani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Pietuszewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guarani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Guarani will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bahia is saying, and nobody at Guarani is enjoying the guessing.
“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 Guarani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Isaque 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.
Samuel has left for Remo in a $360.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
Guarani asked and Flamengo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
13 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Gonzalo Escobar is in the works
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cuiabá waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Guarani is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Cuiabá for Guilherme Maranhão 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 Guarani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Argentinos Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Terceros was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ituano have kept their man, and Guarani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Porto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Porto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A brace, and Borja Sainz takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Borja Sainz provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Porto hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Add another name to the list: Remo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sidney Lima. The answer from Porto has not changed — yet.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Borja Sainz 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.
7 goals in one match, Gabriel Veron on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Porto and Marco 09.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Porto have 10 straight wins of it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A brace, and Vedat Muriqi takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vedat Muriqi provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $37.1M has been paid because Roger Ibañez is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Porto people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Roger Ibañez has just signed for Porto, and for once the answer mattered.
“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.
Borja Sainz 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.
Roger Ibañez was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $37.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Nobody at Porto 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 William Gomes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Alberto Costa has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Porto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sidney Lima wants continental football; whether Porto can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 Oskar Pietuszewski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
10 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.
“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 Andorra, 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 Andorra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout24 May 2027
Edgar is still paying for one afternoon at Andorra
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout24 May 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Marc Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Costa 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 watch every Porto game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atlético CP runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Porto 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.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Famalicao suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Porto, and the summer will force it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Andorra can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Lautaro De León 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.
“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 Andorra know it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A 2‑2 draw with Gijón leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marc Vidal was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Andorra dressing room was either.
Marked 4.31. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andorra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Juan Rodríguez 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Andorra can tell you which week it ends in.
Zaragoza left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Marc Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Diego Alende.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Something was said to Diego Alende and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Lautaro De León 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marc Vidal on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Andorra told Sergio Molina something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutMinsu Kim is still being punished for one mistake
Manu Nieto had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Leganés were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Manu Nieto takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Manu Nieto provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Andorra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Andorra can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Rubén Gómez 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Aingeru Olabarrieta 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.
Real Sociedad B held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Andorra answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Andorra are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Andorra told Lautaro De León something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Andorra can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Andorra 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.
Tjark Scheller 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.
He is 18 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.
1 for Marc Domènech, marked 7.80, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Villarreal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Andorra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Andorra had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Athletic Bilbao, 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 Andorra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The offer from Barcelona for Pau López 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Marked 7.08 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
“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 Andorra, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ellis Lehane has just signed for Andorra, and for once the answer mattered.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro De León trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andorra, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Elías Hernández's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Andorra that is a harder question to answer.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Andorra was different afterwards.
Tjark Scheller 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.
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Marc Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Oskar Pietuszewski is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tjark Scheller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Marked 6.92 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Marc Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Sergio Molina is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marc Vidal on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andorra, and both men came out saying it was fine.
At 24 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Andorra have a decision that made itself.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Aitor Uzkudun’s exile
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Porto told Wesley something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Porto 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Hwang In-Beom's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Santiago Giménez was the best thing in any of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Andorra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Cardona, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Marc Vidal left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
In brief
The dugoutMinsu Kim is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutEdgar left out for tactical reasons at Andorra
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lautaro De León. 2‑1 against Málaga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marc Vidal on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Andorra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Andorra told Oskar Pietuszewski something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marc Vidal after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
6.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Oskar Pietuszewski 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Oskar Pietuszewski has come out of that comparison in the side, and Andorra have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Thomas Carrique 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.
0‑2 to Deportivo La Coruña, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 new faces, and Andorra are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marc Vidal after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pau López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Edgar 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pau López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Deportivo La Coruña arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Nobody at Andorra 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.
He is 18 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marc Cardona. 1‑0 against Real Sociedad B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marc Vidal on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Andorra 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Marc Bombardó to Hércules has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Andorra with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jastin has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“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 Andorra will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Julian Rijkhoff is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.