1‑0 against Utrecht, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jota Silva was at the centre of the description.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
A brace, and Jota Silva takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jota Silva provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this 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 Panathinaikos 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 Kings Kangwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panathinaikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jota Silva wants continental football; whether Panathinaikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jota Silva 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: Facundo Pellistri. 3‑1 against Volos NPS, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panathinaikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Panathinaikos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Kings Kangwa 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 Panathinaikos 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Jota Silva 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kings Kangwa signs something — a contract at Panathinaikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4, 55 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panathinaikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Kings Kangwa 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Manu Garrido is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Santino Andino and Panathinaikos agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Karol Świderski 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 Kings Kangwa 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panathinaikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Kings Kangwa 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panathinaikos has been clear about where Kostas Kotsaris stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panathinaikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The captaincy has been taken off Giorgos Kyriakopoulos. Panathinaikos will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 35 with 327 appearances behind him, and Panathinaikos have to plan for both answers.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos 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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kings Kangwa 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.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Panagiotis Tsintotas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panathinaikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Kings Kangwa 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 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Panathinaikos have no good answer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jota Silva wants continental football; whether Panathinaikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kings Kangwa 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Jota Silva scored in the 89th minute, Volos NPS had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Panathinaikos took the lot.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kings Kangwa 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: Jota Silva. 2‑1 against Volos NPS, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Santino Andino 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑1 against Red Bull Salzburg. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Karol Świderski 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kings Kangwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kings Kangwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑2 against Ajax. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos 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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 matches without defeat, and then Ajax. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Kings Kangwa 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.51 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Karol Świderski 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Panathinaikos and Panetolikos, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Kings Kangwa 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Something was said to Jota Silva and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jan Repas has his answer from Panathinaikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutDavide Calabria has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑0 against Lugano, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabiano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panathinaikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Kings Kangwa 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Kings Kangwa 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Levadiakos will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Panathinaikos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Karol Świderski 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.
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Kings Kangwa 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Kings Kangwa at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Karol Świderski 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kings Kangwa 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.
8 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Derby days make names, and Jota Silva made his against AEK. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panathinaikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Panathinaikos and a story that will outlast his contract.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Kings Kangwa 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1‑3 away to the standard of Red Bull Salzburg. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Andreas Makris has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Kings Kangwa 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Racing Genk for Nahuel Ulariaga 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Panathinaikos close the window on a squad of their own making
36 in and 25 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Club Brugge arrived with $32.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Azzedine Ounahi has gone, the accounts have $32.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Jonathan Gómez has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Panathinaikos have gone to PAOK 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.
PAOK paid $4.7M and Panathinaikos took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The phone has started ringing about Azzedine Ounahi again, and this time the name on the line is Club Brugge. Panathinaikos are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Davide Calabria 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.
At 23 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panathinaikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 22 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.
Facundo Pellistri 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 Elmin Rastoder has come up in conversations Panathinaikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Panathinaikos, another week without a signature from Elseid Hysaj.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $13.6M has been paid because Jota Silva is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Jota Silva was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $13.6M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos 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.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Manu Garrido is living that version at Panathinaikos, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee is $880.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Panetolikos drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
Add another name to the list: Puebla have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manu Garrido. The answer from Panathinaikos has not changed — yet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer went to PAOK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Panetolikos 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.
Karol Świderski 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Apostolos Papanikolaou is 16, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Julien Ngoy has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Panathinaikos have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Luton Town keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” PAOK had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Panathinaikos have gone to Panetolikos 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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 Davide Calabria is on it.
$25.2M on the table at Luton Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jan Repas has just signed for Panathinaikos, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 19 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kings Kangwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Asteras have accepted the money. What Panathinaikos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Panathinaikos have gone to Asteras 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aris Thessaloniki have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Panathinaikos offered $160.0K; PAOK said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santino Andino 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 is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Panathinaikos know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Panathinaikos have gone to Inter Miami CF 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.
Panathinaikos and Aris Thessaloniki have settled on $610.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFI have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Business between these two is never simply business. Panathinaikos wanted Kostas Fortounis, Olympiacos did not want to sell to them of all clubs, and the signature at the end of it says who won that argument.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Panagiotis Tsintotas has just signed for Panathinaikos, and for once the answer mattered.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fabiano has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Panathinaikos offered $160.0K; OFI said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Panathinaikos and Olympiacos have settled on $360.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Aris Thessaloniki this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Léo Gomes has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
Position 2, 62 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos 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.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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 easiest signature of my career.” Apostolos Papanikolaou and Panathinaikos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panathinaikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santino Andino 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Panathinaikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Panathinaikos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Reda Rabeï has just signed for Panathinaikos, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panathinaikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Facundo Pellistri 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 Santino Andino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. David Simão has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Panathinaikos have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad24 Apr 2028
8 new faces, and Panathinaikos 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.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panathinaikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santino Andino 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos 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. Sverrir Ingi Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panathinaikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Nallin is living that version at Panathinaikos, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 Facundo Pellistri is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panathinaikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos 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.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anass Zaroury 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.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panathinaikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panathinaikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos 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. Sverrir Ingi Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panathinaikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sverrir Ingi Ingason has agreed terms with AEK for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Giannis Masouras is living that version at Panathinaikos, and it tends to show in the first month.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Heinz Mörschel has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Panathinaikos have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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 Facundo Pellistri is on it.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panathinaikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 62 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Triantafyllos Tsapras and Panathinaikos agree another 4 years.
PAOK will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Romain Amalfitano has pre-agreed a move to Panathinaikos, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panathinaikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anass Zaroury 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 Davide Calabria is on it.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. André Picornell is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
Jay Gorter 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 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.
Panathinaikos ran out of time with PAOK. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Panathinaikos will try again when the window opens; Olympiacos may not be selling by then.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marko Gudžulić has, at Panathinaikos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
$55.0K was the most the club would pay and Aris Thessaloniki 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santino Andino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Atromitos made Panathinaikos work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Elmin Rastoder was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.51. 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.
$20.0M was the most the club would pay and FC Midtjylland 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Panathinaikos have paid $6.5M for Jay Gorter, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jay Gorter has, at Panathinaikos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Corinthians have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Panathinaikos have gone to Volos NPS 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 offer from OFI for Elmin Rastoder 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.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Panathinaikos offered $140.0K; Atromitos said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Add another name to the list: Panetolikos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pavlos Pantelidis. The answer from Panathinaikos has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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 offer went to FC Midtjylland this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Juan-José Perea has, at Panathinaikos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Panathinaikos offered $1.0M; Volos NPS said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nahuel Ulariaga wants continental football; whether Panathinaikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The phone has started ringing about Sotiris Kontouris again, and this time the name on the line is Vasas. Panathinaikos are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadAnass Zaroury falls out with a teammate over standards
The offer from PAOK for Adriano Jagušić 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.
$6.2M on the table at Atromitos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Panathinaikos will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Panathinaikos asked and Volos NPS said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Panathinaikos have gone to Atromitos 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
In brief
SquadSantino Andino falls out with a teammate over standards
OFI go through and Panathinaikos go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Volos NPS will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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 7.86 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Kostas Kotsaris 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.
He is 22 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.
Facundo Pellistri 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
Position 2, 37 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.
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 7.51 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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 Davide Calabria is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi 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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Aris Thessaloniki had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.