The Lokomotiv Plovdiv Gazette
Market7 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv Plovdiv say no — this time
The offer from Arda for Julien Lamy 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Efe Ali 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Lokomotiv Plovdiv 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Leijten 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Shakhtar tell Lokomotiv Plovdiv: Alan Matturro is not for sale
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Ilker Budinov 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Talks stall between Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Ilker Budinov
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A promotion for Georgi Chorbadzhiyski
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Georgi Chorbadzhiyski has moved up it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Zapro Dinev gets picked when it counts
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 Zapro Dinev is on it.
In brief
- Looking ahead Ivan Turitsov faces his old club
- Squad A season on the outside for Ryan Leijten
- Market The clock runs on Mesut Yusuf's contract