Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Freddy Álvarez 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Johán Cortés 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 6.84, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Serxho Prendi 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Dinamo City had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Something was said to Joseph Colley and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutRedon Xhixha has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tirana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Freddy Álvarez 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 Johán Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ermir Spahiu’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tirana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diar Halili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elio Gjoshi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tirana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tirana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tirana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Tirana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johán Cortés 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AF Elbasani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tirana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Tirana until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tirana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaron O'Reilly and Tirana agree another 3 years.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Johán Cortés 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Colley, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Jord Xhemajli left the room before anybody could ask which.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Apolonia Fier waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tirana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Tirana and Partizani Tirana have settled on $52.0K. 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tirana have done the hard part with Dinamo City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Serxho Prendi 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.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bylis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tirana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Freddy Álvarez 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 Johán Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
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 Emiljano Mihana is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tirana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ariel Krajka 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.
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Tirana no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tirana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Freddy Álvarez 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Tirana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johán Cortés 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.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Tirana would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
9 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elio Gjoshi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tirana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Freddy Álvarez 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 phone has started ringing about Donat Mehmeti again, and this time the name on the line is JIPPO. Tirana are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Tirana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johán Cortés 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.
Something was said to Elio Bega and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tirana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
11 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Serge Tabékou has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tirana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tirana people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tirana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Etienne Tare 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Johán Cortés 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Etienne Tare trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tirana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Tirana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Tirana had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The name of Donat Mehmeti has come up in conversations Tirana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Ariel Krajka 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 18 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Tirana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johán Cortés 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.
Freddy Álvarez 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.
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 Basilio Basilio is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tirana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tirana 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 Johán Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Freddy Álvarez 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 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Tirana will try not to make too much of it.
Half the programme played, position 4, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Aizak Babe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elio Gjoshi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tirana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tirana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Serxho Prendi 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.
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 Basilio Basilio is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ardit Krymi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tirana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tirana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tirana, another week without a signature from Donat Mehmeti.
In brief
The dugoutRafa Freitas knocks on the manager’s door
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elio Gjoshi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tirana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Tirana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tirana offered $87.0K; Vllaznia Shkodër said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Tirana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johán Cortés 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.
0‑1 to Egnatia Rrogozhinë, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jord Xhemajli to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutRedon Xhixha has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pogradeci waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tirana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tirana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Lushnja for Angelos Tafas 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tirana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jord Xhemajli on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tirana can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lushnja waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tirana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elio Gjoshi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tirana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Kukësi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Serxho Prendi. The answer from Tirana has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johán Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Serxho Prendi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Luftëtari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Luftëtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Luftëtari have done the hard part with Tirana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Agan Mjaki 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.
Luftëtari asked and Besa Kavajë said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Luftëtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tirana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Freddy Álvarez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Tirana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johán Cortés 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tirana, another week without a signature from Donat Mehmeti.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tirana has been clear about where Aizak Babe stands, which is more than many ever get.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tirana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutAlvi Kumbaro knocks on the manager’s door
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 Luftëtari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Luftëtari is running low.
Olsi Myrta 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.
Luftëtari asked and Bylis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Luftëtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Beshiraj 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sevlievo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tirana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Serxho Prendi reports back to Tirana with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Freddy Álvarez 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tirana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tirana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Freddy Álvarez 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Basilio Basilio is on it.
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 Angelos Tafas has written the date down.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Serxho Prendi
Olsi Myrta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Luftëtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ariel Krajka 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 Luftëtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tirana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Freddy Álvarez 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 Johán Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tirana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Freddy Álvarez 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 Johán Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Tirana told Luciano Vera something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tirana would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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 Tirana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Tirana until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tirana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Tirana 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Tirana than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tirana would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.