Everything agreed with Dinamo Batumi, 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. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Emerson Bacas 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.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Lokomotivi will try not to make too much of it.
Lokomotivi and Dinamo Batumi have settled on $980.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Lokomotivi asked and Samtredia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasil Khositashvili 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.
Boniphanseo Phiri 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lokomotivi has been clear about where Davi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Marked 7.21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotivi can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotivi 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 Vasil Khositashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotivi can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasil Khositashvili 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Lokomotivi
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotivi 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 Thiago Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vakhtang Ananidze after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Samtredia; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guilherme Escuro and Lokomotivi agree another 2 years.
Thiago Rodrigues 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Black 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotivi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotivi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boniphanseo Phiri 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 15 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Guilherme Escuro 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 Vasil Khositashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vakhtang Ananidze chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 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 Lokomotivi know 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Archil Okriashvili 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.
Guilherme Escuro 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.
Lokomotivi 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.
Lokomotivi have made the call to Torpedo Kutaisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Talisson has written the date down.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotivi 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Rodrigues 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lokomotivi will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Yaroslav Kotliarov has written the date down.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotivi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Talisson commits to Lokomotivi for another 1 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
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.
Kukri is 19, and Lokomotivi have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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 Aleksandre Turkia is on it.