Marked for Hamza Bouchama
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Mar 2028
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kauno Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Mar 2028
“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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
An order from above at Kauno Zalgiris: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market6 Mar 2028
Hamza Bouchama has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kauno Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Kauno Zalgiris
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vykintas Slivka and Kauno Zalgiris agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces6 Mar 2028
He is 22 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
Utenis made Kauno Zalgiris work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vikintas Kazlauskas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Feb 2028
Sonny Yvars breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kauno Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Kauno Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Kauno Zalgiris until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Kauno Zalgiris asked and Barau said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Nosa Iyobosa Edokpolor 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Franco Baldassarra is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Feb 2028
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Kauno Zalgiris know which stage they are at.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
Vykintas Slivka has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
Franco Baldassarra 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Hamza Bouchama 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Oct 2027
Kauno Zalgiris refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 24 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“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 Kauno Zalgiris know it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Oct 2027
Hamza Bouchama is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kauno Zalgiris has been clear about where Hamza Bouchama stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Ivan Fiolić gets picked when it counts
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 Ivan Fiolić is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Hamza Bouchama knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kauno Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I want to stay in the game when I stop, and I am not going to wait until I stop to prepare for it.” At 31 the badges have begun, and every manager in the division remembers doing the same.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Kauno Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Sep 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kauno Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Kauno Zalgiris until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Everything agreed with Orenburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Nosa Iyobosa Edokpolor 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sonny Yvars, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
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 Nosa Iyobosa Edokpolor is on it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Giedrius Matulevičius is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siauliai waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad30 Aug 2027
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Market30 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Kauno Zalgiris will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Kauno Zalgiris that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siauliai waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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 Kauno Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Aug 2027
Motiejus Burba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kauno Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lirim Kastrati 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 dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Nativoha, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I want to play”: Sonny Yvars speaks
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kauno Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yukiyoshi Karashima will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“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; Kauno Zalgiris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Franco Baldassarra 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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Damjan Pavlović, and the manager let it.
Market9 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Kauno Zalgiris will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Kauno Zalgiris will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market9 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kauno Zalgiris, another week without a signature from Valdas Paulauskas.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amine Benchaib
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kauno Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 Kauno Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Anton Tolordava and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kauno Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes Sonny Yvars a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kauno Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amine Benchaib
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kauno Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Jun 2027
Position 3 on 24 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yukiyoshi Karashima will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Anthony Kalik has come up in conversations Kauno Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Franco Baldassarra 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Kauno Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Age has not caught Fabien Ourega yet — 7.83
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match8 May 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout10 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tadas Sernas after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ivan Fiolić gets picked when it counts
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 Ivan Fiolić is on it.
Squad10 May 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Kauno Zalgiris lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout10 May 2027
No place in the plan for Sonny Yvars
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.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Siauliai in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hamza Bouchama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Market29 Mar 2027
Kauno Zalgiris have let the market know Vykintas Slivka can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Suduva in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anthony Kalik signs something — a contract at Kauno Zalgiris or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kauno Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Aidas Jankauskas damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kauno Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Kauno Zalgiris asked and Unionistas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Hamza Bouchama 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Kauno Zalgiris would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market8 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vykintas Slivka signs something — a contract at Kauno Zalgiris or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kauno Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Kauno Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Kauno Zalgiris close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Hamza Bouchama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yukiyoshi Karashima. The answer from Kauno Zalgiris has not changed — yet.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Ivan Fiolić
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kauno Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Kauno Zalgiris. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Anthony Kalik’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 Dec 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Oyinlola Kayode may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Franco Baldassarra 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“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 Kauno Zalgiris, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Fedor Černych has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Joris Moutachy 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Kauno Zalgiris would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Hamza Bouchama arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hamza Bouchama has, at Kauno Zalgiris, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Kauno Zalgiris: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hamza Bouchama commits to Kauno Zalgiris for another 3 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The formation has left Hamza Bouchama behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kauno Zalgiris will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market2 Nov 2026
Experience through the door at Kauno Zalgiris
Asion Daja arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.