The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Olympiacos B have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 22 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonis Dama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos B can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Manolis Saliakas has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armando González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 19-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Gustavo Mancha 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympiacos B, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position, and Erik Hamza suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Olympiacos B have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paschalis Toufakis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos B is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Erik Hamza is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutErik Hamza asks for a word with the manager
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olympiacos B lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 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 Olympiacos B know it.
Alexis Kalogeropoulos 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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Erik Hamza is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Olympiacos B will try very hard not to make too much of it.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Apostolos Martinis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Olympiacos B have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Olympiacos B will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nobody at Olympiacos B is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Panargiakos had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A Olympiacos B teenager takes the young player award
Erik Hamza is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Antonis Dama
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 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.
Gustavo Mancha 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giannis Rolakis is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marko left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Petros Papadopoulos to a room that had heard them before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikos Lolis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Olympiacos B have a player doing his work under protest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Olympiacos B will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Position 5 on 19 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Olympiacos B was different afterwards.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Alexis Kalogeropoulos 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Erik Hamza is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Olympiacos B will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Petros Papadopoulos chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Gustavo Mancha 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 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gustavo Mancha scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Petros Papadopoulos could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Christos Liatsos’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olympiacos B needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Erik Hamza’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olympiacos B needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Gustavo Mancha 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Mancha has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Panionios defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Position 4, 15 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikos Zouglis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Olympiacos B will try not to make too much of it.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Olympiacos B prefer.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Giannis Rolakis is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Olympiacos B take on the side everybody is chasing
Panionios arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.52 for the rest of it.
At 19 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Petros Papadopoulos could afford to be generous.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olympiacos B know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Next up on the road: Marko, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Olympiacos B can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Gustavo Mancha 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Petros Papadopoulos on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erik Hamza. 3‑2 against Ilioupoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandros Tsobanidis, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nikos Zouglis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Petros Papadopoulos, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Argyris Liatsikouras had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos B can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from CS Afumați for Alexandros Tsobanidis 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.
“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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Argyris Liatsikouras 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.
Hellas Syros next, and one man in the Olympiacos B dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.