Marked for Nicolas
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Apr 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market22 Apr 2030
Felipe Motta hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what São Paulo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Guido 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.
Market22 Apr 2030
As if he never left: Zequinha returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Zequinha is a São Paulo player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market22 Apr 2030
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market22 Apr 2030
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
Marked 9.37 — 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.
Match20 Apr 2030
A 1‑0 win over Grêmio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Apr 2030
Max Alves keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” São Paulo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Apr 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market15 Apr 2030
David Terans has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around São Paulo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at São Paulo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Nicolas signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas commits to São Paulo for another 5 years.
Loan watch15 Apr 2030
“I did not go to Nagoya Grampus to sit and watch. I want to come back to São Paulo and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at São Paulo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market14 May 2029
Fabri hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what São Paulo can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 May 2029
The wait goes on for São Paulo
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.
Squad14 May 2029
Clayson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at São Paulo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolas and São Paulo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A performance of 8.93 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Iago
“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.
Match12 May 2029
It needed Rodrigo Atencio to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Botafogo, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad14 May 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at São Paulo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Clayson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at São Paulo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Feb 2029
Vissel Kobe are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. São Paulo will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The match ball belongs to Victor Sá, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad11 Dec 2028
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market11 Dec 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The season belongs to Artur
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Sport Recife have had the benefit of it.
Market11 Dec 2028
São Paulo pay $2.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Lucas Moura 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.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
One of those days for Victor Sá
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.85, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Pablo Maia runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Match11 Dec 2028
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad11 Dec 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and São Paulo have had the benefit of it.
Market11 Dec 2028
As if he never left: Nicolas returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nicolas is a São Paulo player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market11 Dec 2028
Marcelo Ajul hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what São Paulo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market11 Dec 2028
The chase for Iago ended with $1.2M changing hands and Bahia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market11 Dec 2028
The chase for Renan ended with $1.1M changing hands and Bahia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Chrystian Barletta 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Dec 2028
Chastening afternoon for Sport Recife
A 1‑4 beating by Vasco da Gama was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Nobody could get near Pablo Maia
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Maílton keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sport Recife may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Moura and Sport Recife agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Artur 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sport Recife have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market4 Dec 2028
Enzo Díaz is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sport Recife has been clear about where Enzo Díaz stands, which is more than many ever get.