Modestas Simkus

Striker - Kauno Zalgiris
5 May 2027
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Modestas Simkus

38 Edition

The Trakai Courier

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Karolis Kuklys damages knee ligaments — 91 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.

Player ratings

Both of them Marius Cernych's — 8.93

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.93, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Ignas Valskis asks to leave Trakai

“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.

Squad

Nicolás Maturana 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Darius Klimavicius

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Edgaras Cernych 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.

Match

Trakai see off Siauliai

Three points for Trakai, 2‑1 the final word against Siauliai in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

No hiding place for Fiodor Kuklys

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fiodor Kuklys, and the manager let it.

Loan watch

Modestas Simkus wants to come home

“I did not go to Kauno Zalgiris to sit and watch. I want to come back to Trakai and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.

In brief

Back issues
34 Edition

The Trakai Courier

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Karolis Kuklys 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.

Match

Trakai strike at the death to beat Zalgiris

There were 89 minutes on the clock and Zalgiris had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Trakai did not stop to explain themselves.

Market

Ignas Valskis 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Marius Refsnes 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.

Squad

Edgaras Cernych 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.

Match

Darius Klimavicius the difference as Trakai beat Zalgiris

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Darius Klimavicius. 1‑0 against Zalgiris, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Trakai count the cost of losing Rokas Cernych

17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Loan watch

Modestas Simkus has seen enough of Kauno Zalgiris

“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 Trakai, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Darius Klimavicius

A mark of 7.69, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

In brief

30 Edition

The Trakai Courier

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Karolis Kuklys

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

Squad

Darius Dubickas breaks a bone — 23 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Ignas Valskis 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.

In brief

26 Edition

The Kauno Zalgiris Sentinel

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Juan Pablo Marín damages knee ligaments — 43 days out

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.

Squad

Damjan Pavlović 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 Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Benigno Palacio 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Trakai Courier

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Kuklys out for 18 days

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Marius Refsnes 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.

Squad

When it matters, Marius Cernych plays

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

16 Edition

The Trakai Courier

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Kuklys out for 46 days

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.

Squad

Nicolás Maturana 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.

Loan watch

Modestas Simkus has seen enough of Kauno Zalgiris

“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 Trakai, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

12 Edition

The Trakai Courier

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Kuklys out for 76 days

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.

Market

Aidas Paulauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Marius Refsnes 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.

In brief

10 Edition

The Trakai Courier

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Kuklys out for 90 days

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.

Market

Ignas Valskis puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Karolis Kuklys stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Karolis Kuklys and Trakai agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

6 Edition

The Kauno Zalgiris Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Fedor Černych out for 86 days

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.

Squad

Damjan Pavlović 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 Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

When it matters, Valdas Paulauskas plays

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

6 Edition

The Trakai Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Ignas Valskis puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Marius Refsnes 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.

Squad

A season on the outside for Marius Refsnes

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Trakai has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Squad

When it matters, Darius Klimavicius plays

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.

Squad

Is this Justas Vaitkunas’s last season?

“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Justas Vaitkunas is 34, with 0 appearances behind him, and Trakai will have to plan for whichever answer comes.

Market

Trakai put Vikintas Kuklys up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vikintas Kuklys may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

5 Edition

The Trakai Courier

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Marius Refsnes 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Ignas Lasickas

“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.

Squad

Marius Refsnes 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.

Squad

Ignas Kazlauskas has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Trakai 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.

Market

Kauno Zalgiris expected to open talks for Modestas Simkus

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Market

The Marius Cernych question follows Trakai around

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

In brief

4 Edition

The Trakai Courier

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The small margins put Trakai out

Out, 1‑3 to Suduva, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Deividas Sernas puts it in writing

“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.

Player ratings

Ignas Lasickas did the work nobody counts — 6.81

16 combined actions and 6.81. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.

Squad

Nicolás Maturana 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.

Squad

Karolis Mikoliunas gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Trakai hit back inside 2 minutes

Suduva held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Trakai answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

Squad

Modestas Simkus signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Modestas Simkus and Trakai agree another 3 years.

Market

Aidas Paulauskas is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Trakai has been clear about where Aidas Paulauskas stands, which is more than many ever get.

Squad

When it matters, Marius Cernych plays

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