Marked for Daniel Marques
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2038
Daniel Marques damages knee ligaments — 115 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 115 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Youri Regeer breaks a bone — 64 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Jul 2038
433 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market5 Jul 2038
“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.
Market5 Jul 2038
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Braga hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market5 Jul 2038
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Tempers go at Braga
Gustaf Lagerbielke 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2038
$16.2M on the table at Braga
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Boardroom5 Jul 2038
Intake day at the Braga academy
10 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2038
Daniel Marques damages knee ligaments — 124 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 124 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Youri Regeer breaks a bone — 71 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jun 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Braga can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Jun 2038
Braga up to position 3
77 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Sandro Vidigal: 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.” Braga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Jun 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2038
Daniel Marques damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Youri Regeer breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Saná Fernandes gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Saná Fernandes has just signed for Braga, and for once the answer mattered.
Market21 Jun 2038
Lucas Machado has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Braga they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Tempers go at Braga
Gustaf Lagerbielke 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.
Market21 Jun 2038
“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.