Marked for Kevin Chamorro
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout17 May 2027
Alexis Vega has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rio Ave 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 dugout17 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market17 May 2027
The Alexis Vega story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Vega signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rio Ave. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch17 May 2027
15 starts and an average of 6.68. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Squad17 May 2027
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
Squad17 May 2027
Israel Reyes is the talk of the training ground
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, Rio Ave do not lose
23 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match3 Feb 2027
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Vitoria Guimaraes had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Rio Ave did not stop to explain themselves.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rio Ave may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Kevin Chamorro to AVS has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rio Ave with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Alexis Vega 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Cezary Miszta
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Player ratings
Alan beats them one at a time
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Match
Rio Ave caught on 91 minutes
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rio Ave
The unbeaten run reaches 21. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.58, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match30 Jan 2027
Rio Ave make home a hard place to visit
13 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Rio Ave did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Rio Ave close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Rio Ave
Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Feb 2027
Business is business: Amine Rehmi goes
Leiria paid $1.1M and Rio Ave took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rio Ave can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.