Marked for David Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jan 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Valdas Paulauskas reports back to Kauno Zalgiris with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Franco Baldassarra 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kauno Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Somebody is after Luka Račić’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Luka Račić suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Kauno Zalgiris have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Kauno Zalgiris have had the benefit of it.
Market22 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for João Marcos
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. João Marcos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Nov 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 Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Oct 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 Kauno Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Robbie Robinson: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kauno Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dāvis Ikaunieks and Kauno Zalgiris agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Franco Baldassarra 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniel Roca
“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.
Market4 Oct 2027
10 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Sep 2027
João Marcos has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kauno Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 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 Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kauno Zalgiris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer from Atlantas for Valdas Paulauskas 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Aug 2027
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market2 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Valur have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joris Moutachy. The answer from Kauno Zalgiris has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Gratas Sirgėdas 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Roca, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Jul 2027
Dila up to position 2
40 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dila may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A defender's afternoon for Ramaric Etou
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Dila
Shota Shekiladze 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Shota Shekiladze
12 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.76, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Jul 2027
A 1‑0 win over Samtredia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Jul 2027
Position 3 and 23 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market26 Jul 2027
Atlantas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kauno Zalgiris did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Damjan Pavlović 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Trakai paid $160.0K and Kauno Zalgiris took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Robbie Robinson
“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
Upbeat
Market12 Jul 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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Carabobo
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Lucas Bruera 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 Carabobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch12 Jul 2027
“I watch every Carabobo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Caracas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match10 Jul 2027
A 2‑0 win over Aragua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.55 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Jul 2027
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes de Caracas are no longer polite ones.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market12 Jul 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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Darwin Rondon 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
David Ramirez has left for Carabobo in a $56.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Sebastián Pérez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match10 Jul 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Estudiantes de Caracas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Jun 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 8.50 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The award goes to Darwin Rondon, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Match5 Jun 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad7 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Joaquín Gho 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Jan 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. David Ramirez may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
Oscar Arango 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 Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Roberto Otero 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Gonzalez, and the manager let it.
Market4 Jan 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Junior Osorio has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Estudiantes de Caracas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.