The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Fede Varela 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 name of Luca Martinazzi has come up in conversations Floriana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 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 Floriana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market30 Jul 2029
Floriana may not be able to give Kauan what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kauan wants continental football; whether Floriana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Fede Varela 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan 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.
Position 3, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Floriana can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zachary Brincat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Floriana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guilherme Cioletti and Floriana agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 3, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Floriana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Floriana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Owen Spiteri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Floriana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fede Varela 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Floriana can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zachary Brincat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Floriana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Position 3, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Floriana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fede Varela 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan 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 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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Floriana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Floriana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fede Varela 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 words a physio says slowly. 78 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 Floriana 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 Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.