“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leiria can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Eboué Kouassi, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Juan Muñoz 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathias De Amorim 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 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Leiria and Académico de Viseu, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathias De Amorim 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Eboué Kouassi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Duarte Marques is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Juan Muñoz 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathias De Amorim 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Leiria would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jair Silva signs something — a contract at Leiria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Juan Muñoz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eboué Kouassi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Leiria will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christian Joel Sánchez signs something — a contract at Leiria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and Pablo Fernández suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Leiria have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Luis Arthur arrives at Leiria with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jhonnys Guerrero and Leiria agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahima Guirassy 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.
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 Maga is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leiria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leiria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leiria can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Feirense had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Belgrano, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mateo Tanlongo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Pedro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pedro Machado has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Pedro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Miguel Pereira had Feirense level again within 3 minutes, and Leixões never got to play with a lead at all.
Académico de Viseu have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutSimão Bertelli dropped after a run of poor form
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Jair Silva was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leiria asked and Penafiel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 9.10 — 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Fernández 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Leiria had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leiria have done the hard part with Farense, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Eboué Kouassi has his answer from Leiria; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A brace, and Eboué Kouassi takes the afternoon — 8.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eboué Kouassi provided it, and the 8.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Fernández 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eboué Kouassi. 2‑0 against Sporting CP B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Duarte Dias kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Up for the corner, and Eboué Kouassi delivers — 7.77
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Eboué Kouassi scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Pablo Fernández 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jair Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
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.
Nobody at Leiria is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leiria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leiria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Borislav Rupanov provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.44 for the rest of it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Juan Muñoz 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.
8 goals in one match, Borislav Rupanov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Leiria and Penafiel.
In brief
SquadWords at Leiria training over how hard people work
Juan Muñoz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Fernández 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.
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Leiria are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.