Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Asteras
1 Sep 2027
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka

56 Edition

The Asteras Gazette

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikos Papadopoulos breaks a bone — 40 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Asteras turn down Atromitos for Junior Mendieta

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Triantafyllos Tsapras in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Anhá Candé is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Late improvement for Carles Soria

At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Transfer targets

Rosario Central tell Asteras: Diego Armando Díaz 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.

Market

Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Asteras has been clear about where Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

No hiding place for Junior Mendieta

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Mendieta, and the manager let it.

Market

Experience through the door at Asteras

Amor Layouni arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.

In brief

Back issues
54 Edition

The Asteras Gazette

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikos Papadopoulos breaks a bone — 58 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The terraces

Anger at Asteras spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Junior Mendieta turns Atromitos down

“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.

Market

Kostas Chrysopoulos asks to leave Asteras

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Asteras

Carles Soria 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Asteras

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Triantafyllos Tsapras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Vojvodina tell Asteras: Stefan Stanisavljević 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.

Squad

Miki Muñoz signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miki Muñoz and Asteras agree another 2 years.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Youssouph Badji is in the works

Asteras have made the call to AGF. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

44 Edition

The Asteras Gazette

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikos Papadopoulos breaks a bone — 130 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Asteras

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Álex Méndez asks to leave Asteras

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Asteras

Franco Orozco 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.

Squad

Words at Asteras training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Oriol Rosell

“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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Asteras Gazette

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Lovro Majkić out for 27 days

27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Asteras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

66 days out for Junior Mendieta after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Asteras will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Kiko Olivas asks to leave Asteras

“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.

Market

Asteras turn down FC Lahti for Anhá Candé

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Kiko Olivas wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Asteras can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words exchanged at Asteras

Mady Camara 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

26 Edition

The Asteras Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Asteras has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Junior Mendieta breaks a bone — 107 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Miki Muñoz puts it in writing

“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 Asteras, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Asteras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

The wait goes on for Asteras

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Transfer targets

Medical ends the Tasos Tsokanis deal

Everything was agreed with Volos NPS and then the doctor spoke. Asteras have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.

Market

Asteras say no — this time

The offer from Maritzburg United for Anhá Candé 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.

Squad

Franco Orozco in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Business is business: Evgeniy Yablonskiy goes

Panathinaikos paid $510.0K and Asteras took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

In brief