Marked for Grigorios Manolas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
No hiding place for Javi Mier
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Javi Mier, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Niv Eliasi 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marios Vichos’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $108.1K — a club that wants Diallo Sanoussi enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Levadiakos is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giannis Kosti and Levadiakos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Levadiakos asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Grigorios Manolas 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimitrios Mavropanos 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. Sotirios Ioannidis 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.