“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Suduva left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulius Golubickas 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 Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulius Golubickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19, and nobody at Zalgiris signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad12 Feb 2029
6 new faces, and Zalgiris 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.
“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 Zalgiris will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ernestas Stočkūnas, and the manager let it.
Market12 Feb 2029
The window shut and Ivan Lytvynenko is still in the building
Zalgiris spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Capan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rubin keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zalgiris know it.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulius Golubickas 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.
Omran Haydary 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.
A loan enquiry to Vllaznia Shkodër: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alex Monde is living that version at Zalgiris, and it tends to show in the first month.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Zalgiris had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Artem Zaloha 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 Paulius Golubickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulius Golubickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Abdulsamed Abdullahi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Capan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Zalgiris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulius Golubickas 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 Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $373.6K of what Zalgiris paid for Karolis Girdvainis is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Zalgiris close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Omran Haydary 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 Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Arminia Bielefeld 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.
Zalgiris have made the call to Olimpija Ljubljana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kauno Zalgiris waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Abdulsamed Abdullahi 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 name of Ismail Muhd has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruben Rosa 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 Ivan Lytvynenko is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
113 minutes played. Ivan Lytvynenko found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Siauliai went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Trakai waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Zalgiris asked and Bravo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulius Golubickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zalgiris know it.
7 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 2, 29 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vykintas Slivka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
10 new faces, and Zalgiris 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.
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bojan Adžić has, at Zalgiris, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Zalgiris have had the benefit of it.
Zalgiris asked and Suduva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vykintas Slivka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Lytvynenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vykintas Slivka 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 Deividas Šešplaukis is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zalgiris, and 11 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
A new face in his position, and Pijus Širvys suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Zalgiris have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ovidijus Verbickas signs something — a contract at Zalgiris or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zalgiris know which stage they are at.
Tautvydas Burdzilauskas signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ovidijus Verbickas reports back to Zalgiris with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vykintas Slivka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
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 Vykintas Slivka is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Zalgiris will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giedrius Matulevičius trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Sep 2027
The window shut and Carlos Olses is still in the building
Zalgiris spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stumbras waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$3.4M was the most the club would pay and TOP Oss were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.8M — a club that wants Finn Stokkers enough to be asked twice.
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 Zalgiris 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.
“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 Zalgiris will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
$2.7M on the table at TOP Oss. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saba Mamatsashvili 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.
Zalgiris asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.
7 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.
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. Zalgiris will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
A season-long audition: Kairat still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Zalgiris's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Stumbras will make the call about Giedrius Matulevičius this week. Zalgiris have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Zalgiris had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Red Bull Salzburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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 Vykintas Slivka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zalgiris know which stage they are at.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ismail Muhd
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Utenis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zalgiris know it.
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.
Zalgiris asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zalgiris has been clear about where Ovidijus Verbickas stands, which is more than many ever get.
Zalgiris have made the call to Red Bull Salzburg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The offer from Utenis for Ovidijus Verbickas 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.
Kauno Zalgiris did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $680.0K for Vykintas Slivka, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $35.0K — a club that wants Ernestas Stočkūnas enough to be asked twice.
The fee is $380.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Suduva drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Zalgiris have gone to Suduva with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vykintas Slivka and Zalgiris agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Zalgiris spend $680.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $680.0K for Vykintas Slivka, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siauliai have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ivan Lytvynenko 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.