“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.
Bahia and São Paulo have settled on $1.7M. 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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $1.4M of what Bahia paid for Emerson Júnior 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 The request is on a desk at Bahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Bahia close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 18 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.
17 combined actions and 7.06. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bahia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Novorizontino have kept their man, and Bahia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadMichel Araújo falls out with a teammate over standards
$21.5M was the most the club would pay and Palmeiras 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 offer went to Criciúma 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bahia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Iago Borduchi is a Bahia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Bahia have gone to Athletico Paranaense 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.
Erick 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.
$21.5M on the table at Palmeiras. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vasco da Gama waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bahia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletico Paranaense have kept their man, and Bahia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $5.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Fortaleza drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Bahia can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Varzim for Emerson Júnior 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.
Athletico Paranaense wanted more than $390.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michel Araújo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gabriel Xavier 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 offer from Athletico Paranaense for Santiago Ramos Mingo 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bahia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Mirassol have accepted the money. What Bahia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jean Lucas scored, was marked 7.62, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bahia can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Fluminense 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $797.9K — a club that wants Héliton enough to be asked twice.
Bahia have gone to Paysandu 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 Bahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Bahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michel Araújo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Bahia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maranhão runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bahia told Diego Hernández something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout29 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Henrique Cavalcante chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bahia 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kayky trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Bahia says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kauã Moraes has written the date down.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bahia 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.” Bahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
“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 Bahia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michel Araújo 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Caio Alexandre signs something — a contract at Bahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bahia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Bahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jean Lucas 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 Santiago Ramos Mingo 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 Bahia know it.
11 goals in 27 games at Ceilândia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Bahia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Something was said to Robert and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Jean Lucas is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 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.” Bahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jean Lucas 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 had been thinking. Michel Araújo 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.
“I watch every Bahia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Parnahyba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Operário-MS had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Jean Lucas 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.
7 goals in one match, Everaldo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Bahia and Coritiba.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
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 watch every Bahia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Capital runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Bahia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bahia and Palmeiras, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Something was said to Everton Ribeiro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Everton Ribeiro is on it.
In brief
SquadMateo Sanabria falls out with a teammate over standards
Jean Lucas 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Everton Ribeiro 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Miqueias has improved at 25, which nobody expected
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.
Something was said to Gabriel Xavier and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Everaldo is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bahia, another week without a signature from Gabriel Xavier.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
0‑0 against Defensa y Justicia, 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jean Lucas 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.
Botafogo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Douglas Soares left the room before anybody could ask which.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Willian José.
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 new faces, and Bahia 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.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
In brief
The dugoutGilberto dropped after a run of poor form
Player ratingsErick Pulga beats them one at a time