A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Paredes will try again when the window opens; Gil Vicente may not be selling by then.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Juan Lopes 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paredes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paredes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Paredes could ask drops and the wages Juan Lopes can ask rise.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Paredes would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paredes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paredes 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 Dodô was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
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.” Lucas Machado, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and André Coutinho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paredes 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paredes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Moreno 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 Paredes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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 Tiago Palancha has written the date down.
In brief
SquadCláudio Silva is the talk of the training ground
Josh Wynder and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paredes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The mood at Paredes has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Paredes had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gil Vicente, 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 Paredes can pretend not to have heard.
Josh Wynder 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 clock did what AVS would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Paredes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Moreno is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paredes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Paredes know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paredes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sanjoanense in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Paredes would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Paredes had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Porto, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Rubén Lezcano 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.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Paredes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dodô 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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A new face in his position, and Cláudio Silva suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Paredes have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dodô was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Miguel Moreno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dodô was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paredes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.