Marked for Jorge Meré
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lechia
Vladislav Blănuţă 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jorge Meré 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toronto FC have kept their man, and Lechia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bartosz Moder after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Patryk Letkiewicz is 20, and Lechia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Dinamo Moscow 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Aug 2026
Lechia through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Zaglebie, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Igor Bambecki, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Lechia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Meré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cracovia have kept their man, and Lechia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Bambecki has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Lechia
Axel Holewiński 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Lechia
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for Lechia
Beaten 1‑8 by Gornik Zabrze, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 24 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Alan Matturro rejects the move
Lechia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match15 Aug 2026
Kevin Dodaj among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Kevin Dodaj on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lechia and Gornik Zabrze.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matej Rodin 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Jorge Meré 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. Jorge Meré is living that version at Lechia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Shakhtar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Lechia is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vladislav Blănuţă commits to Lechia for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lechia
Vladislav Blănuţă 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Meré 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Lechia asked and Cracovia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.