Marked for Arvydas Sernas
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justas Sernas 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arvydas Sernas is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Justas Sernas commits to Trakai for another 4 years.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartaks have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Justas Sernas 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Slovan Liberec: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karolis Lasickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Arvydas Sernas 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Deividas Simkus
24 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Justas Sernas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Deividas Simkus damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Danko Kiković knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Danko Kiković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market2 Nov 2026
Trakai have made Edvinas Cernych available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Deividas Simkus
83 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karolis Jankauskas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Deividas Novikovas is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Vykintas Girdvainis 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Deividas Simkus damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Atlantas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Trakai asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karolis Jankauskas 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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 Trakai would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Deividas Simkus
114 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 3 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Edgaras Novikovas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marius Cernych slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marius Cernych is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Karolis Jankauskas 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$4.0K settles it between the clubs for Edgaras Sernas
Atlantas have accepted the money. What Trakai do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market31 Aug 2026
Trakai say no — this time
The offer from Minyor Pernik for Arnas Sernas 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Karolis Jankauskas 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Trakai have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad31 Aug 2026
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Justas Slavickas and Trakai agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Arvydas Sernas obliged against Siauliai. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Trakai.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Karolis Lasickas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
Kristaps Kamess has left for Stumbras in a $330.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Petar Bosančić has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Trakai have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marius Cernych has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karolis Lasickas, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Trakai know which stage they are at.