Nathan Zerafa

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Shimal
2 Jul 2028
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Marked for Nathan Zerafa

96 Edition

The Shimal Chronicle

29 May 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad29 May 2028

A falling-out at Shimal

Kleandro Kleandro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad29 May 2028

Mitch Apau is slowing down

At 38, 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.

Squad29 May 2028

A row about effort at Shimal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wanderson Gotinha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market29 May 2028

Still no ink between Shimal and Edílson

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shimal, another week without a signature from Edílson.

Squad29 May 2028

Nathan Zerafa stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Nathan Zerafa and Shimal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Boardroom29 May 2028

Shimal have to sell first

The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.

In brief

Back issues
95 Edition

The Shimal Chronicle

22 May 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces22 May 2028

The mood at Shimal has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad22 May 2028

A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefanos Gounaridis

17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shimal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad22 May 2028

Words exchanged at Shimal

Edson Silva 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.

Squad22 May 2028

Time is catching up with Vadim Abdullayev

Everybody at Shimal saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.

Squad22 May 2028

Words at Shimal training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Abdullayev 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 dugout22 May 2028

The manager makes an example of Okan Təhməzli

“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.

In brief

42 Edition

The Floriana Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad17 May 2027

37 days out for Sbonelo Ngcobo after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Floriana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market17 May 2027

Pablo Picón is on his way

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.

Squad17 May 2027

Words exchanged at Floriana

Kenan Dervišagić 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.

Squad17 May 2027

Home is on Hítalo's mind

“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; Floriana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad17 May 2027

A row about effort at Floriana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gonzalo Gamarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout17 May 2027

Kenan Dervišagić asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market17 May 2027

The Kenan Dervišagić question follows Floriana around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kenan Dervišagić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout17 May 2027

The manager makes Fede Varela a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Floriana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout17 May 2027

Owen Cassar has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Floriana 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.

In brief