Marked for Simao Santos
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The offer went to Estrela da Amadora this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Vizela close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 23 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Feirense come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Vizela did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Porto is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Vizela will try again when the window opens; Estrela da Amadora may not be selling by then.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Vizela
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ângelo Neto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Vizela
Andrea Hristov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Luís Rocha
“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
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 44. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Chaves, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Matías Lacava takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Lacava provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Aug 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 Vizela can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A goal and an assist for Angel Bastunov — 7.98
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.98 beside his name.
Squad24 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 Vizela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Vizela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ângelo Neto 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simao Santos and Vizela agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Bernardo Mota, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Porto this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anthony Carter commits to Vizela for another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Vizela offered $690.0K; Danubio 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.
Squad10 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 Vizela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Martins is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rodrigo Machado has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joao Correia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simao Santos has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Andrea Hristov 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.