Marked for Karolis Vaitkunas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Sep 2028
Besar Halimi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Sep 2028
70 days out for Donatas Sernas after a fracture
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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Trakai 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Besar Halimi 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Trakai
Andrius Slavickas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Trakai will try again when the window opens; Atlantas may not be selling by then.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Luka Tasić has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Trakai know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mantas Kazlauskas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Trakai
Besar Halimi 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Kauno Zalgiris, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Sousa 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“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 dugout17 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Lukas Eliosius to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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 Titas Milašius is on it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trakai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Apr 2028
Trakai out of the cup
Stumbras ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad10 Apr 2028
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.
Market10 Apr 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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Apr 2028
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edvinas Barauskas commits to Trakai for another 3 years.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Trakai
Donatas Lasickas 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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market10 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Edvinas Barauskas has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Trakai.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Robert Nguyen
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Apr 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Besar Halimi, 33, rolls back the years — 8.11
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“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 Trakai know it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Besar Halimi 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Atlantas made Trakai work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mantas Kazlauskas and Trakai agree another 4 years.
The terraces3 Apr 2028
At 22 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Donatas Lasickas has his answer from Trakai; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edvinas Barauskas, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
Match
Trakai settle it inside twenty minutes
-
Player ratings
One of those days for Titas Milašius
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Trakai
Besar Halimi 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Aidas Cernych
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brooklyn Bailey and Trakai agree another 3 years.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leon Otto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Robert Nguyen 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Mar 2028
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market20 Mar 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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Besar Halimi 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Trakai
Piotr Liszewski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tadas Vaitkunas, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
Lachlin Lambert damages knee ligaments — 121 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Trakai
Besar Halimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Frugnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Besar Halimi and Trakai agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Paulius 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadas Vaitkunas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Trakai offered $620.0K; Suduva said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Besar Halimi 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Trakai ran out of time with Suduva. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tadas Vaitkunas 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Trakai are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout13 Sep 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 dugout13 Sep 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.
Match13 Sep 2027
Trakai have something to play for
Position 4 on 21 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Rokas Novikovas: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$22.0K on the table at Suduva. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fiodor 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Donatas Lasickas 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Frugnoli and Trakai agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout16 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Trakai will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Match16 Aug 2027
Trakai in the hunt for Europe
Position 4, 21 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market16 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Trakai, another week without a signature from Karolis Vaitkunas.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Jun 2027
The season ends: position 4 for Trakai
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 21 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market14 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Trakai people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad14 Jun 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Samuel Sousa: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Saulius Kuklys
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saulius Kuklys will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Karolis Vaitkunas is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match12 Jun 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 May 2027
Saulius Kuklys has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 7.42 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Trakai had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout17 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Lukas Eliosius after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Howells 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 dugout17 May 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 Trakai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Besar Halimi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match15 May 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Zalgiris will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout17 May 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Daniele Montevago 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Laidani, and the manager let it.
Match13 Mar 2027
Stumbras left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Lukas Eliosius left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market15 Mar 2027
Samuel Sousa is 20, and Trakai have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Samuel Sousa commits to Trakai for another 4 years.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Max Howells was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.