Marked for Tadas Simkus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Karolis Valskis
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Tadas Simkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tadas Simkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stumbras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tadas Valskis commits to Stumbras for another 3 years.
Squad11 Oct 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vikintas Kuklys was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomas Dubickas's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Tadas Valskis gets picked when it counts
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 Tadas Valskis is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of José Alves
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stumbras is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Stumbras offered $11.0K; Atlantas 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
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Luke Bell 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Vikintas Kuklys 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomas Dubickas, and the manager let it.
Market13 Sep 2027
Marco Carta is 20, and Stumbras 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Carta and Stumbras agree another 3 years.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Tomas Dubickas is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Atlantas, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Modestas Klimavicius and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market23 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tadas Simkus. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vikintas Kuklys 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Alves and Stumbras agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Trakai are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Stumbras will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stumbras have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Aug 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Modestas Klimavicius 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
Tomas Dubickas is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Tadas Valskis gets picked when it counts
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 Tadas Valskis is on it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Jean Koffi 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Alexis Alibert 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
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stumbras people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Atlantas; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market9 Aug 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stumbras is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darius Cernych and Stumbras agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siauliai have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Tadas Valskis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Modestas Klimavicius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Aug 2027
Stumbras sink to position 8
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market2 Aug 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stumbras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Tomas Lasickas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Stumbras is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
$11.0K was the most the club would pay and Atlantas 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Stumbras asked and Siauliai said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vikintas Kuklys 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dobrin Petrov and Stumbras agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 May 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.
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stumbras is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match15 May 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Tadas Valskis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Modestas Klimavicius 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.
Looking ahead17 May 2027
Everything rides on Utenis
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. Stumbras know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout17 May 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 dugout17 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Linas Paulauskas after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Karolis Valskis
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Apr 2027
Stumbras are in real trouble now
Position 6, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Apr 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Stumbras
4 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Jean Koffi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Apr 2027
Kauno Zalgiris left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Apr 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Linas Paulauskas after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Modestas Klimavicius 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stumbras, another week without a signature from Noam Benramdane.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stumbras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market15 Mar 2027
Tadas Simkus 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Mar 2027
Three points for Stumbras, 2‑1 the final word against Trakai in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Mar 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Noam Benramdane 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stumbras can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Oleg Gonsevich damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Edoardo Cavaliere 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Stumbras are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Oleg Gonsevich damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Justas Simkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Justas Simkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stumbras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Edoardo Cavaliere 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Tadas Simkus
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Stumbras will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Szymon Mucha 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Noam Benramdane is 18, and Stumbras 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
Kauno Zalgiris arrived with $620.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Darius Cernych had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Saulius Vaitkunas has gone, the accounts have $620.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market1 Feb 2027
Tadas Simkus 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 5 in, 1 out at Stumbras
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
Trakai come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stumbras did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Edoardo Cavaliere 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 targets1 Feb 2027
The window shuts on the Ignas Plūkas deal
Stumbras 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Szymon Mucha and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Spartaks have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Darius Cernych. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Stumbras asked and Utenis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Edoardo Cavaliere 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Utenis have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Stumbras have made the call to Utenis. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market4 Jan 2027
Rory Leech is 19, and Stumbras 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oleg Gonsevich and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Modestas Klimavicius is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Deividas Slavickas 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Donatas Paulauskas damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Tadas Valskis 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Deividas Slavickas 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stumbras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Tadas Valskis 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Fiodor Sernas 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.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Stumbras asked and Siauliai said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Deividas Slavickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Rapid Bucharest to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stumbras and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stumbras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Saulius Vaitkunas may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Donatas Paulauskas damages knee ligaments — 122 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 122 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A move Edoardo Cavaliere would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Edoardo Cavaliere is living that version at Stumbras, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Stumbras close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edoardo Cavaliere and Stumbras agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Stumbras asked and Atlantas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Tadas Simkus
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Stumbras did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Saulius Vaitkunas has come up in conversations Stumbras were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Saulius Vaitkunas 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siauliai have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadas Valskis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tadas Valskis, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Stumbras know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market24 Aug 2026
The Tadas Simkus talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stumbras know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Stumbras 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Trakai come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stumbras did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Stumbras
Tadas Valskis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Stumbras asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch17 Aug 2026
“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 Stumbras, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shinnik have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tadas Valskis 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Stumbras have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rokas Jankauskas and Stumbras agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Tadas Valskis 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.