The Baltika Sentinel
Market26 Jun 2028
Alex Fernandes 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 Baltika can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Baltika agree $14.0K for Vladimir Iljin
The clubs have shaken hands with Sochi; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad26 Jun 2028
James Gibbons gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. James Gibbons has just signed for Baltika, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
An offer of $230.0K for Leon Zaidenzal
Baltika have gone to Dinamo Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market26 Jun 2028
James Gibbons is a Baltika player
The fee is $170.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Yenisey drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Baltika
Irakly Manelov 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Baltika get their man
The chase for Alexandr Kulikov ended with $110.0K changing hands and Kuban out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Aiás 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
German Mamaev steps up from the Baltika academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. German Mamaev 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.
In brief
- Squad 5 new faces, and Baltika are still learning each other
- The dugout Dmitry Skopintsev gets picked when it counts
- The dugout Maxim Shnaptsev knocks on the manager’s door