Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bojan Roganović is living that version at Zalgiris, and it tends to show in the first month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vincentas Šarkauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luka Tasić and Zalgiris agree another 4 years.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Nicolas Haas 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 new man at Zalgiris has worked with Giedrius Matulevičius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luka Tasić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Nicolas Haas 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.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
The new man at Zalgiris has worked with Giedrius Matulevičius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Gajdoš 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 new man at Zalgiris has worked with Giedrius Matulevičius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Nicolas Haas 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.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ivan Lytvynenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Gajdoš 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.
Nobody at 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zalgiris told Denis Portanova something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Ivan Lytvynenko has moved up it.
In brief
The dugoutArtur Gajdoš knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Haas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Zalgiris know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Lukas Vaitkunas has written the date down.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Utenis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Capan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris 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 Zalgiris 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 Artur Gajdoš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Zalgiris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lukas Vaitkunas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Ventspils for Basil Tuma 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Yushin and Zalgiris agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Nicolas Haas 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siauliai waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Carlos Olses has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Haas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nedas Klimavičius trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Atlantas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Carlos Olses. The answer from Zalgiris has not changed — yet.
“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; Zalgiris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Artur Gajdoš 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Bryan Teixeira is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Haas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The name of Lukas Vaitkunas has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Louis Flower has just signed for Zalgiris, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Haas 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.
Alexandr Yushin 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
In brief
The dugoutArtur Gajdoš knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Ventspils for Basil Tuma 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.
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Nicolas Haas 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 name of Carlos Olses has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Nicolas Haas 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.
Zalgiris asked and NK Domzale said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Dominik Franke's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Omran Haydary 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 name of Lukas Vaitkunas has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Motiejus Burba 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Stumbras had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Haas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ventspils waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Haas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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 Bryan Teixeira is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Alexandr Yushin 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.
“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; Zalgiris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lukas Vaitkunas has his answer from Zalgiris; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Carlos Olses damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bryan Teixeira. 1‑0 against Kauno Zalgiris, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Zalgiris will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Half the programme played, position 1, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldayr Hernández 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Marius Eliosius to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Zalgiris man
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Faustas Steponavičius obliged against Utenis. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zalgiris.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Zalgiris scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
1 for Aldayr Hernández, marked 7.88, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldayr Hernández 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.
Nobody at 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Marius Eliosius after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A 2‑1 win over Suduva, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match17 Nov 2027
Bryan Teixeira wins it after the whistle should have gone
116 minutes played. Bryan Teixeira found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Suduva went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Zalgiris had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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 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.
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 Carlos Olses is on it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Zalgiris would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Abdourahman Badamosi 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.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Zalgiris the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Luka Tasić
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Omran Haydary 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.
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.
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 Bryan Teixeira is on it.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Abdourahman Badamosi 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.
Nobody at 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Linas Mikoliunas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karolis Dubickas 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lukas Simkus 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rokas Dubickas 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.
“I watch every Zalgiris game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Suduva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Zalgiris know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
The deal that would have taken Nemanja Mihajlović to Stumbras has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Zalgiris with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Zalgiris asked and Kauno Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
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 Carlos Olses is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giedrius Matulevičius will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Zalgiris asked and Sigma Olomouc said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alexandr Yushin 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 words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
The shirt still fits. Motiejus Burba is back at Zalgiris, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Zalgiris asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$490.0K on the table at Kauno Zalgiris. 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. Olimpija Ljubljana have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zalgiris know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Deividas Šešplaukis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Kauno Zalgiris; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $680.0K has been paid because Omran Haydary is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Giedrius Matulevičius has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Omran Haydary from Suduva for $680.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Zalgiris asked and Krylya Sovetov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alexandr Yushin 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.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$680.0K settles it between the clubs for Omran Haydary
Suduva have accepted the money. What Zalgiris do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Zalgiris asked and Egnatia Rrogozhinë said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 21 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris 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 Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Zalgiris have made the call to Krylya Sovetov. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zalgiris know which stage they are at.
Nobody at 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rokas Lekiatas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Suduva 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Zalgiris will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
A squad is not eleven players and a wish. Alexandr Yushin arrives from Torpedo Moscow to make the number up properly, and the value of that will be argued about in March rather than today.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Torpedo Moscow have accepted the money. What Zalgiris do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Paulius Golubickas is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stumbras waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Zalgiris know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bryan Teixeira signs something — a contract at Zalgiris or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Zalgiris would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 8 on 6 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siauliai waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Lukas Vaitkunas was one of the reasons people came, and $810.0K does not replace that by itself.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlantas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Atlantas have done the hard part with Kauno Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Position 3 on 22 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bryan Teixeira provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The fee is $660.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Suduva drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The name of Nemanja Mihajlović has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer went to Neftchi 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlantas can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Pavić 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.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
He is 23 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.
Position 3, 19 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Suduva; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
6 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.
The offer went to Atlantas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Suduva have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Zalgiris know it.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The phone has started ringing about Dariuš Stankevičius again, and this time the name on the line is Suduva. Zalgiris are listening politely and promising nothing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić 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.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Atlantas know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nemanja Ilić will call it something else in private.
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Trakai were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 Atlantas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas 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 Lazar Sajčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rokas Paulauskas on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
Marko Pavić 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rokas Paulauskas after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Aidas Cernych's mistake
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Deividas Lasickas did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aidas Mikoliunas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Atlantas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FCSB runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
9 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Half the programme played, position 8, 0 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aidas Mikoliunas 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.
8 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Lazar Sajčić 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.
Everybody at Atlantas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Rokas Paulauskas to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Atlantas know it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Lazar Sajčić 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.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atlantas can tell you which week it ends in.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
“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; Atlantas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aidas Mikoliunas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić 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.
Everybody at Atlantas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rokas Paulauskas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vikintas Lasickas 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.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Aidas Cernych will want back
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Marius Kuklys has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saulius Sernas 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomas Slavickas 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Justas Kuklys 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Lazar Sajčić 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.
Godfrey Joseph 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlantas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atlantas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Atlantas 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aidas Lasickas. The answer from Atlantas has not changed — yet.
“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 Atlantas, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
A loan enquiry to Kauno Zalgiris: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vikintas Lasickas 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.