Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartaks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raivis Ciganovs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartaks the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Daniel Adjessa 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davis Fertovs 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.
“I watch every Spartaks game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Daugavpils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartaks will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kaspars Zjuzins 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arturs Ciganovs 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.
Spartaks close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Davis Fertovs 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Raivis Ciganovs has moved up it.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Spartaks could ask drops and the wages Raivis Ciganovs can ask rise.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marcis Dubra had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Skonto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Spartaks paid $64.0K and Skonto took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Skonto asked and Chornomorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv Sofia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Eduards Vanins is on it.
In brief
SquadNikita Oss falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cerro Porteno is saying, and nobody at Spartaks is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metta/LU have kept their man, and Spartaks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kaspars Zjuzins 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.
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.