“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tristan Degreef 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.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Feirense, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Feirense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad4 Sep 2028
João Oliveira has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tristan Degreef. 1‑0 against Chaves, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Tristan Degreef was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Kiki Silva has improved at 30, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaly 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.
Kiki Silva 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Feirense are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
João Graça 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.
Estoril Praia pay $720.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The name of Desmond Nketia has come up in conversations Feirense were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Pedro Amaral 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.
The fee is $1.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Torreense drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Pedro Amaral 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diogo Pinto 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Trofim Melnichenko did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Diogo Pinto 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Trofim Melnichenko. 1‑0 against Vizela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feirense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guilherme Santos is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Guilherme Santos 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Diogo Pinto 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
João Graça 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.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feirense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diogo Pinto 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Feirense training over how hard people work