The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Samgurali Tskaltubo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Gagra for Davit Mujiri 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nika Manjgaladze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Samgurali Tskaltubo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Samgurali Tskaltubo asked and Dinamo Batumi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Volpi 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.
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.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Samgurali Tskaltubo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Samgurali Tskaltubo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Tsotne Berelidze was one of the reasons people came, and $470.0K does not replace that by itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samgurali Tskaltubo can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. João Victor has just signed for Samgurali Tskaltubo, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samgurali Tskaltubo 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 Fabian Volpi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Samgurali Tskaltubo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Santos is saying, and nobody at Samgurali Tskaltubo is enjoying the guessing.
The chase for Nikoloz Ugrekhelidze ended with $360.0K changing hands and Dinamo Tbilisi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Pedro Castro 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Merani have kept their man, and Samgurali Tskaltubo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Samgurali Tskaltubo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Volpi 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.
Samgurali Tskaltubo asked and Torpedo Kutaisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Tbilisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Arsen Siukaev
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samgurali Tskaltubo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soares is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Samgurali Tskaltubo will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Fabian Volpi
Fabian Volpi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.