The Panionios Gazette
Squad28 May 2029
Raffaele Aresini gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Raffaele Aresini has just signed for Panionios, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad28 May 2029
Tempers go at Panionios
Nair Tiknizyan 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.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Panionios
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kurt Zouma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 May 2029
Panionios sign Raffaele Aresini, one for the future
Raffaele Aresini is 20, and Panionios 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.
Market28 May 2029
Panionios put Fotis Sgouris up for sale
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fotis Sgouris may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout28 May 2029
Richard Jensen knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panionios, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 May 2029
Giorgos Saramantas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Panionios 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.
Market28 May 2029
Talks stall between Panionios and Raffaele Aresini
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad28 May 2029
Dan Cohen still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Panionios would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
- Market Jonathan Morsay linked with a move away
- Boardroom The Panionios academy earns its keep
- Match Mid-table, and Panionios know it