Marked for Christos Loukaidis
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2027
95 days out for Salvador Agra after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Anorthosis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Anorthosis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Clifford Aboagye 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Anorthosis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kostakis Artymatas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Sep 2027
Aris left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Nemanja Tošić
“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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 0‑1 Georgios Artymatas left the room before anybody could ask which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 49. 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AE Kition will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market30 Aug 2027
Anorthosis come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AE Kition did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AE Kition have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AEL had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Pere Pons 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 Aug 2027
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
Salvador Agra breaks a bone — 117 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Anorthosis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Anorthosis asked and AE Kition said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Anorthosis have done the hard part with AE Kition, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match28 Aug 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Clifford Aboagye 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 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. João Assunção is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
1 academy graduates step up at Anorthosis
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hrvoje Miličević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AE Kition the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at AE Kition
Pere Pons 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 Jun 2027
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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Youssef Amyn again, and this time the name on the line is Agia Napa. AE Kition are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at AE Kition training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Miramón 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zlatan Alomerović, and the manager let it.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AE Kition has been clear about where Andreas Paraskeva stands, which is more than many ever get.