Marked for Modestas Dapkus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Olegs Stolcers damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atlantas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Trakai is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Trakai 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.
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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vykintas Novikovas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tadas Girdvainis is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
NK Celje have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Marius Simkus
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Lukas Satkus 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. DAC Dunajska Streda have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrius Valskis 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vykintas Novikovas, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Open for business: Trakai enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrius Eliosius and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Lukas Satkus 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vykintas Novikovas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Trakai close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Swindon Town keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panathinaikos have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Vykintas Paulauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Modestas Dapkus is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edgaras Novikovas, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Trakai spent the window trying to move Modestas Dapkus on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Trakai had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lukas Satkus in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vykintas Paulauskas 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Panathinaikos have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Bayelsa United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.