The offer from Arouca for Raúl Alcaina 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Penafiel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adrian Leon Barišić 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 Davo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sporting CP B held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Penafiel answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Penafiel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
5 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at CE Europa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CE Europa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at CE Europa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Zarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. CE Europa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
$2.4M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Atlético Madrileño spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
He is going to Tarazona, the club has $2.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
1 for Álex Cano, marked 7.57, 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.
The deal with Valladolid is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it 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 CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
4 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.
Oscar Naasei 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Internacional have kept their man, and Penafiel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from AVS for Raúl Alcaina 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.
Oscar Naasei 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 Carlos Ascues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Penafiel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Algeciras the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that CE Europa will enjoy reviewing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luken Medina after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Max Svensson has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
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 Marcel Sgró is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rodrigo Gimeno did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7 goals in one match, Ignacio Cuffaro on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of CE Europa and Eldense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Flere and CE Europa agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Zarco 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.
Jordi Cano 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.
Àlex Carbonell 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davo 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ruben Castro on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iano Simão trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CE Europa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Felipe Chéchile 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 Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rodrigo Gimeno is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luken Medina was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the CE Europa dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sanluqueño? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ruben Castro to a room that had heard them before.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jaime Escario 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.
Nobody at Penafiel 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Bryan Róchez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Penafiel needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Juanda Fuentes is on it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcos Vinícius wants continental football; whether Penafiel can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Alexandre Guedes 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Sá 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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CE Europa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Zarco 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, CE Europa have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Ramón Enríquez 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.
Sabadell left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Zarco 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.
Everybody at CE Europa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luken Medina after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and CE Europa will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at CE Europa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villarreal have kept their man, and CE Europa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Zarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.01. 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.
Álex Cano 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Penafiel are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Estrela da Amadora 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.