Marked for Andrei Laptev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Aug 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrei Laptev
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo-BelAZ lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Aug 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Torpedo-BelAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Aug 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo-BelAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match11 Aug 2031
Torpedo-BelAZ refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market11 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo-BelAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Everything agreed with BATE, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
$60.0K on the table at Dinamo Minsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Arseniy Zhukovskiy 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Aug 2031
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo-BelAZ lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Jul 2031
Out, 0‑0 to Gomel, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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.
Market4 Aug 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo-BelAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market4 Aug 2031
Maxim Autko 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 Torpedo-BelAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Aug 2031
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo-BelAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Arseniy Zhukovskiy 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jul 2031
Andrei Laptev damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Baranovichi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mark Pereverzev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo-BelAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market28 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo-BelAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jul 2031
The bid was some way short and Torpedo-BelAZ did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match26 Jul 2031
Nobody wants to play Torpedo-BelAZ right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Danila Prokhin 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Torpedo-BelAZ have gone to Dinamo Minsk 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 dugout28 Jul 2031
This is not rotation. Ştefan Gheoroae has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jul 2031
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo-BelAZ lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Jul 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo-BelAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market21 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo-BelAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neman have kept their man, and Torpedo-BelAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Arseniy Zhukovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Torpedo-BelAZ offered $60.0K; Dinamo Minsk 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words at Torpedo-BelAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Prokhin 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.
Match19 Jul 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Semyon Zelenov. 1‑0 against Neman, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrei Laptev
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo-BelAZ lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Isloch waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match14 Jul 2031
31 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market14 Jul 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Egor Khralenkov: 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.” Torpedo-BelAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
The offer went to Dinamo Minsk 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Arseniy Zhukovskiy 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Torpedo-BelAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Prokhin 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.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.