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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Álvaro Montoro 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Grêmio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Marked 7.97. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emiliano Valenzuela wants continental football; whether Grêmio can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhilmar Lora was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Roger was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.20. 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.
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.
Position 19 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 The request is on a desk at Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Jhilmar Lora 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.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio 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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Grêmio have gone to Botafogo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Athletico Paranaense wanted more than $200.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
In brief
MarketGrêmio may not be able to give Jardiel what he wants
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Grêmio are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings30 Jun 2031
A brace, and Daniel Lima takes the afternoon — 8.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Lima provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Grêmio can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Grêmio asked and Santa Clara 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 club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
$640.0K on the table at Novorizontino. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fluminense have kept their man, and Grêmio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Grêmio will try not to make too much of it.
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 9.11 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicholas Negro provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 May 2031
João Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Grêmio can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
41 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
8 goals in one match, Nicholas Negro on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Grêmio and Porto Vitória.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Wagner Leonardo 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 target is the manager, the approach is real, and the compensation clause is the whole conversation. Clubs deny this kind of story right up until the photograph.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roger provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Nicholas Negro, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicholas Negro 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.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grêmio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Wagner Leonardo 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 Luiz Eduardo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Grêmio 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grêmio has been clear about where Riquelme stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Grêmio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Eduardo 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 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 Dodi is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grêmio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Wagner Leonardo 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Nobody at Grêmio 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grêmio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Wagner Leonardo 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.
11 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.
Nobody at Grêmio 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Grêmio that is a harder question to answer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grêmio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Wagner Leonardo 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 Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Roger is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ander Izarra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fluminense have accepted the money. What Grêmio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rodrigo Gomes had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grêmio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Grêmio have gone to São Paulo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Grêmio will try again when the window opens; Atlético Mineiro may not be selling by then.
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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Ponte Preta will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Wagner Leonardo 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.
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Grêmio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riquelme 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 Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grêmio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Lucas Beltrán 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.
Federico Acosta 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grêmio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
João Borne 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Lucas Beltrán 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Joaquín Freitas 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.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Federico Acosta 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 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grêmio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Wagner Leonardo 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Grêmio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafinha 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Something was said to Sabino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Bezerra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio 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 Grêmio 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 Lucas Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Grêmio is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grêmio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Náutico.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grêmio, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Grêmio had all but put away. Portuguesa will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Lucas Beltrán 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.
Grêmio asked and Bragantino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grêmio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Grêmio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Flamengo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
Grêmio close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Felipe Longo reports back to Grêmio with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
$480.0K was the most the club would pay and Botafogo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Grêmio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Grêmio and Fluminense have settled on $5.5M. 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Roger had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
$4.0M was the most the club would pay and Flamengo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The offer from Athletico Paranaense for Ygor 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flamengo is saying, and nobody at Grêmio is enjoying the guessing.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Boavista waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Grêmio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Corinthians this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mathías Bernatene has agreed terms with Náutico for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Cunha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Wagner Leonardo 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Marcelo Ajul has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Grêmio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fortaleza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Grêmio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.78 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathías Bernatene will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Pouso Alegre have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Roger. The answer from Grêmio has not changed — yet.
The deal with Sport Recife is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.94 beside his name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Grêmio asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Wagner Leonardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at Grêmio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Beltrán 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Grêmio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grêmio have done the hard part with Vasco da Gama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$26.0K on the table at Bragantino. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. América de Natal have kept their man, and Grêmio go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jun 2030
Grêmio may not be able to give Ronald what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronald wants continental football; whether Grêmio can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
João Borne 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Lucas Beltrán 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.
Grêmio asked and Aldosivi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 9.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 23 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Bezerra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio 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 Grêmio 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 Lucas Beltrán 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. Grêmio told João Borne something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
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 João Pedro is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Santa Cruz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market6 May 2030
Grêmio may not be able to give Jardiel what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jardiel wants continental football; whether Grêmio can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grêmio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Grêmio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafinha 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.
Felipe Cunha 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 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 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. Marcos Bezerra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Beltrán 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is João Pedro’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Grêmio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grêmio. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grêmio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Grêmio can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Wagner Leonardo 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 Lucas Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gonzalo Mastriani is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Grêmio 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Mayk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Grêmio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Beltrán 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.
Felipe Cunha 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 João Pedro is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grêmio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
João Borne 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 Mar 2030
Lucas Beltrán 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grêmio, another week without a signature from João Borne.
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.
“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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Grêmio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grêmio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Cunha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grêmio 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 Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Lucas Beltrán 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palmeiras have kept their man, and Grêmio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grêmio has been clear about where Camilo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Grêmio 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.
The phone has started ringing about Jovane Cabral again, and this time the name on the line is Palmeiras. Grêmio are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guarani have kept their man, and Grêmio go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Arthur Peixoto after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.61 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Grêmio and Remo, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
The terracesGrêmio supporters have found a favourite in Roger
Player ratingsEvander was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“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 Grêmio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Leonel Pérez 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 Weverton 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grêmio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Grêmio would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roger trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.