The chase for Sergei Kruglov ended with $23.0K changing hands and Sillamae Kalev out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and FCI Tallinn go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Valeri Shantenkov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergei Kruglov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mattis Karis is 19, and FCI Tallinn 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. FCI Tallinn will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A season-long audition: Paide still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are FCI Tallinn's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
FCI Tallinn paid $23.0K and Sillamae Kalev took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Sillamae Kalev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergei Dmitrijev 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.
Rauno Antonov 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sillamae Kalev would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Paide; FCI Tallinn go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Everything agreed with Sillamae Kalev, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
FCI Tallinn asked and Nomme Kalju 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 0‑3 Frank Vassiljev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sillamae Kalev people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Liliu Zenjov again, and this time the name on the line is Tammeka. Sillamae Kalev are listening politely and promising nothing.
Sergei Dmitrijev 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.
Godwin Chinemeren was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $460.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Sillamae Kalev asked and Orenburg 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sillamae Kalev will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sillamae Kalev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Joonas Liivak again, and this time the name on the line is FCI Tallinn. Sillamae Kalev are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Sillamae Kalev have made the call to Narva Trans. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.