Cafú

Defensive Midfielder - AEL
26 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Cafú

7 Edition

The AEL Courier

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Rémi Oudin damages knee ligaments — 97 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.

Squad

98 days out for İbrahim Yılmaz after a fracture

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

Player ratings

Daniil Paroutis was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. 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.

Squad

Fran González stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Transfer targets

AEL rebuffed over Charalabos Charalabous

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aris have kept their man, and AEL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at AEL

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

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Kostakis Elia on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

No goals between AEL and Paralimni

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Paralimni will be the happier side with the point.

Market

The Fernando Forestieri question follows AEL around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Fernando Forestieri’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

Back issues
6 Edition

The AEL Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

İbrahim Yılmaz 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

Luther Singh 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 AEL can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 21 in, 2 out at AEL

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

AEL rebuffed over Nicolás Andereggen

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ethnikos Achnas have kept their man, and AEL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at AEL

Fernando Forestieri 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.

Transfer targets

No deal for Giorgos Naoum at that price

AEL offered $110.0K; AE Kition 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AEL

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

Squad

AEL are still strangers to each other

17 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Boardroom

AEL counting the cost

The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at AEL now.

In brief

4 Edition

The AEL Courier

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

$780.0K settles it between the clubs for Andreas Christodoulou

APOEL have accepted the money. What AEL do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Inter Miami CF tell AEL: Dayne St. Clair 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

Emmanuel Imanishimwe asks to leave AEL

“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

AEL say no — this time

The offer from Chalkanoras Idaliou for Panagiotis Panagi 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.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Fran González

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AEL have done the hard part with Real Madrid, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Kojo Peprah Oppong rejects the move

AEL had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fenerbahce, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Words at AEL training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cafú 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.

Squad

İbrahim Yılmaz still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AEL would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

Market

İbrahim Yılmaz linked with a move away

The name of İbrahim Yılmaz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AEL say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

3 Edition

The AEL Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: François-Régis Mughe is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Digenis Morfou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEL is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

No deal for Lucas Acosta at that price

AEL offered $1.7M; Aldosivi 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.

Market

AEL say no — this time

The offer from Anorthosis for Christoforos Frantzis 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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Carlos López rejects the move

AEL had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Málaga, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

AEL rebuffed over Josef Kvída

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Apollon have kept their man, and AEL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEL

Alison Mira 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.

Market

Chalkanoras Idaliou watching Panagiotis Panagi

The interest is real enough to have reached print. AEL have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

A row about effort at AEL

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

Squad

The formation has left Pieros Tzionis behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AEL will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief