Marked for Jonas Wind
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Aug 2034
“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 The request is on a desk at Porto B, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Aug 2034
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Aug 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Porto B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market14 Aug 2034
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Porto B heard it as anything else.
Squad14 Aug 2034
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad14 Aug 2034
A move Jonas Wind would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonas Wind is living that version at Porto B, and it tends to show in the first month.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jan 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ricardo Horta
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Braga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Jan 2034
“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.
Market23 Jan 2034
Jonas Wind 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.
Squad23 Jan 2034
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.
Squad23 Jan 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guilherme Ribeiro and Braga agree another 5 years.
Squad23 Jan 2034
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Gómez 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.
Match21 Jan 2034
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom23 Jan 2034
Inquest at Braga
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings23 Jan 2034
Luisinho runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jan 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ricardo Horta
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Braga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Jan 2034
“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.
Market16 Jan 2034
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Jan 2034
Tempers go at Braga
Ricardo Horta 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.
Squad16 Jan 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Guilherme Ribeiro and Braga agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match14 Jan 2034
Three points for Braga, 4‑3 the final word against Arouca in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match14 Jan 2034
Gonçalo Inácio among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Gonçalo Inácio on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Braga and Arouca.
Squad16 Jan 2034
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deniz Gül 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 ratings16 Jan 2034
Ninety minutes of Gonçalo Inácio at his very best
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Braga.
In brief
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Player ratings
Gabri Martínez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Player ratings
One of those days for Deniz Gül
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Boardroom
Wages eat 92% of everything Braga earn
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Jan 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ricardo Horta
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Braga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Jan 2034
“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 Braga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Jan 2034
Braga say no — this time
The offer from Oliveirense for Henrique Mendes 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.
Squad9 Jan 2034
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.
Squad9 Jan 2034
Deniz Gül 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.
Market9 Jan 2034
The name of Jan Paluska has come up in conversations Braga were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Dec 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ricardo Horta
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Braga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Dec 2033
Jonas Wind 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.
Market19 Dec 2033
“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 Braga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Dec 2033
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.
Squad19 Dec 2033
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad19 Dec 2033
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Horta 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.
Match17 Dec 2033
Rio Ave left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match17 Dec 2033
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Braga and Rio Ave in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings19 Dec 2033
A masterclass from Luisinho
Marked 8.59 — 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ismaël Gharbi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Boardroom
Wages eat 94% of everything Braga earn
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Player ratings
Jan Paluska will replay that one
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Nov 2033
Jens Cajuste 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 Braga can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings21 Nov 2033
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Nov 2033
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market21 Nov 2033
Jonas Wind 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 Nov 2033
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.
Squad21 Nov 2033
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Horta 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 Nov 2033
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom21 Nov 2033
Wages eat 94% of everything Braga earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad21 Nov 2033
The manager makes an example of Jens Cajuste
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.