111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Neil Volken is a Zurich player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romeo Vermant was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Marcel Łubik's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitoria Guimaraes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitoria Guimaraes can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mateo Karamatić has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Oumar Camara 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Karamatić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitoria Guimaraes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vitoria Guimaraes offered $450.0K; Braga 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.
Squad17 Jan 2033
Samuel Dahl 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.
Vitoria Guimaraes asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Position 1 on 48 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have shaken hands with Vaduz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Malek Ishuayed 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.
In brief
SquadRomeo Vermant falls out with a teammate over standards
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atlético CP waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alverca is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alverca can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hugo Oliveira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alverca the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ayuub Abdulle has agreed terms with Famalicao for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lincoln was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2032
6 new faces, and Alverca are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alverca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Alverca have gone to Farense 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.
The name of Afonso Sousa has come up in conversations Alverca were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alverca can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Estoril Praia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Afonso Leite has pre-agreed a move to Alverca, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Alverca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Alverca training over how hard people work
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tondela waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alverca is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Teddy Alloh again, and this time the name on the line is União de Santarém. Alverca are listening politely and promising nothing.
João Mendes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lincoln was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Alverca has been clear about where Mauro Skunca stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alverca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Pacos de Ferreira had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Real Sociedad moved on, Luis Pinto reports back to Alverca, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Thiago Azaf 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lincoln was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alverca asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Alverca are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alverca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alverca asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Libra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Coxi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alverca the goodbyes have quietly begun.
João Mendes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lincoln was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alverca can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jalen Blesa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basaksehir can pretend not to have heard.
Enver Kulašin 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Nobody at Basaksehir will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eldor Shomurodov signs something — a contract at Basaksehir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 3 on 71 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basaksehir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Muhammed Şengezer and Basaksehir agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Medin Gashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Basaksehir will try not to make too much of it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Klayver wants continental football; whether Basaksehir can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Basaksehir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Haluk Tan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Basaksehir the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Enver Kulašin 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.
Konyaspor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mahmut Küçükşahin has pre-agreed a move to Basaksehir, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Pinto, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Kerem Şen 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alverca lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alverca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alverca is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
João Mendes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lincoln was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Medin Gashi 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mateo Pérez Curci wants continental football; whether Basaksehir can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Medin Gashi will call it something else in private.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Basaksehir has been clear about where Hamza Ljukovac stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Basaksehir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tim Hottiger has, at Basaksehir, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Haluk Tan 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Basaksehir asked and Adana Demirspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Basaksehir people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anton Matković provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $1.4M of what Basaksehir paid for Turaç Böke is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
22 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Basaksehir until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Enver Kulašin 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.
Basaksehir asked and Antalyaspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Medin Gashi 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alverca have lost him in all but the paperwork.
João Mendes 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.
Casa Pia paid $1.0M and Alverca took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Paulo Filho has, at Alverca, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alverca can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Kerem Kayaarası will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Basaksehir escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basaksehir can pretend not to have heard.
Basaksehir asked and Bodrum FK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$550.0K on the table at Antalyaspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kim Taewon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alverca the goodbyes have quietly begun.
João Mendes 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lincoln 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.
Something was said to Francisco Moura and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alverca is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
João Mendes 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kipré Zunon 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Alverca has been clear about where Juan Alberto Sánchez stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Alverca man
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Coxi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alverca the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leandro Rodríguez wants continental football; whether Alverca can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lincoln 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Alverca will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alverca are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Famalicao in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A brace, and Jalen Blesa takes the afternoon — 8.22
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jalen Blesa provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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; Alverca are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alverca lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alverca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $300.0K of what Alverca paid for Lucas Duarte is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alverca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alverca they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
João Mendes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Alverca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alverca lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alverca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Portimonense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alverca is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Nabil Touaizi 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.
Alverca asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
São João de Ver have accepted the money. What Alverca do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Chaves for Afonso Sousa 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $315.0K — a club that wants Rafinha enough to be asked twice.
João Mendes 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.
Alverca have gone to Estrela da Amadora 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Raymond Anthony is living that version at Chaves, and it tends to show in the first month.
Alverca paid $1.9M and Chaves took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chaves is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Chaves go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Famalicao wanted more than $210.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Rob Street 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.
Add another name to the list: Belenenses have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luis Pinto. The answer from Chaves has not changed — yet.
Gabriel Furtado 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 Jun 2031
Rob Street 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Chaves have had the benefit of it.
This is not rotation. Jackson Jaramillo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaves is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Chaves training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rob Street 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chaves is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vilém Holinka is on it.
Gabriel Furtado 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Chaves training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henrique 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.
“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; Chaves are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chaves, another week without a signature from Jakob Franz Pálsson.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chaves told Jackson Jaramillo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chaves, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gabriel Furtado 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.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rob Street signs something — a contract at Chaves or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Chaves that is a harder question to answer.