Legia have accepted the money. What Wisla Krakow do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Piotr Starzyński has gone, the accounts have $530.0K 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.
Jagiellonia paid $530.0K and Wisla Krakow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ervin Omić and Wisla Krakow agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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.
Wisla Krakow asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Jakub Krzyżanowski has come up in conversations Wisla Krakow were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Arkadiusz Ziarko has gone, the accounts have $790.0K 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wisla Krakow can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wisla Krakow have done the hard part with Empoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Metz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Roberto Massimo 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.
Gornik Leczna paid $790.0K and Wisla Krakow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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.
Wisla Krakow asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Wisla Krakow, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wisla Krakow have done the hard part with Zaglebie, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at NK Domzale is saying, and nobody at Wisla Krakow is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Massimo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Nordsjaelland keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Marcel Łubik 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 Roberto Massimo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Wisla Krakow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Roberto Massimo is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and James Igbekeme trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Steczyk signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hammarby keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow 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 Oriol Rosell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wisla Krakow have made the call to Southampton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The offer from Zaglebie for Ángel Rodado 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wisla Krakow have done the hard part with Hammarby, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Racing Genk is saying, and nobody at Wisla Krakow is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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.
Add another name to the list: Zaglebie have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Patryk Letkiewicz. The answer from Wisla Krakow has not changed — yet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wiktor Szywacz and Wisla Krakow agree another 3 years.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Wisla Krakow has been clear about where Bartosz Jaroch stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Wisla Krakow enter the window
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.
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 Ardit Nikaj is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Wisla Krakow. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Roberto Massimo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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 Roberto Massimo is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Wisla Krakow. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Steczyk signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wisla Krakow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Wisla Krakow will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A 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 Wiktor Biedrzycki has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ángel Rodado has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wisla Krakow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Massimo 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 Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wisla Krakow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Steczyk signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wisla Krakow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wisla Krakow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marcel Łubik 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 Roberto Massimo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Wisla Krakow will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I watch every Wisla Krakow game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lechia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Roberto Massimo signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Wiktor Biedrzycki has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Marcel Łubik
Roberto Massimo 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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 Ardit Nikaj is on 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 Wiktor Biedrzycki has written the date down.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ángel Rodado has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Wisla Krakow 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 Wisla Krakow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wisla Krakow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Maciej Kuziemka commits to Wisla Krakow for another 4 years.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Oriol Rosell 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Wisla Krakow, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Ángel Rodado is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Massimo signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Oriol Rosell 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wisla Krakow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Marc Carbó was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Roberto Massimo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wisla Krakow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Marko Božić was one of the reasons people came, and $5.9M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow 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 Oriol Rosell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Wisla Krakow 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Julian Lelieveld trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Wisla Krakow would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Marcel Łubik 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.
“I watch every Wisla Krakow game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lechia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Wisla Krakow 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.
Something was said to Sergio Fernández and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Julian Lelieveld trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Massimo signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Add another name to the list: Hammarby have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marko Božić. The answer from Wisla Krakow has not changed — yet.
Wisla Krakow had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olimpia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
7 goals in one match, Dominik Sarga on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Wisla Krakow and Ruch.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Piotr Starzyński 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.
Gornik Leczna will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Wisla Krakow were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pyunik is saying, and nobody at Wisla Krakow is enjoying the guessing.
Roberto Massimo 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 Wisla Krakow and Gornik Leczna, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Wisla Krakow until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Banfield keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Massimo 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 Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rodina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Marko Božić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Wisla Krakow.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Oriol Rosell 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.
Wisla Krakow asked and FC Augsburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Roberto Massimo 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Oriol Rosell 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slask have kept their man, and Wisla Krakow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Wisla Krakow 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.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Patryk Letkiewicz has agreed terms with Lechia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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.
Wisla Krakow asked and Milton Keynes Dons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Wisla Krakow had all but put away. Slask will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Wisla Krakow had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Marko Božić 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 Roberto Massimo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wisla Krakow asked and Caracas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.17, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Wisla Krakow prefer.
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Roberto Massimo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Oriol Rosell 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.
Something was said to Raoul Giger and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Wisla Krakow take on the side everybody is chasing
Lech arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Roberto Massimo 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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Oriol Rosell 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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wisla Krakow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Maciej Kuziemka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Oriol Rosell 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wisla Krakow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Marko Božić takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Božić provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Jagiellonia had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wisla Krakow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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.
7.96, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Wisla Krakow had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sebastian Zalewski, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 10 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
15 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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 1‑0 win over Gornik Zabrze, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Position 9, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Marked 7.90. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sebastian Zalewski, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Roberto Massimo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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 Wisla Krakow 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 is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Wisla Krakow are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A Wisla Krakow teenager takes the young player award
Maciej Kuziemka is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Gornik Zabrze next, and one man in the Wisla Krakow dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Wisla Krakow. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shirt still fits. Bartosz Talar is back at Wisla Krakow, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bartosz Talar has, at Wisla Krakow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Legia left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Oriol Rosell 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Sebastian Zalewski to a room that had heard them before.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Wisla Krakow did not have in the autumn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Massimo 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jakub Krzyżanowski is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A brace, and Marko Božić takes the afternoon — 9.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Božić provided it, and the 9.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Ángel Rodado takes the afternoon — 9.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ángel Rodado provided it, and the 9.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Roberto Massimo 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 Oriol Rosell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Gornik Leczna scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Ángel Rodado had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Cracovia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Roberto Massimo 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Oriol Rosell 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.74, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Cracovia on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
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.
Roberto Massimo 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.
6 goals in one match, Marko Božić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Wisla Krakow and Slask.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Piotr Rogala has, at Wisla Krakow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oriol Rosell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Oriol Rosell 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 Roberto Massimo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Frederico Duarte scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Lech, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sebastian Zalewski to a room that had heard them before.
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Raoul Giger
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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.
Wisla Krakow asked and Flamengo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Kacper Duda delivers — 7.21
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kacper Duda scored, was marked 7.21, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Wisla Krakow will try again when the window opens; Gornik Leczna may not be selling by then.
$75.0K was the most the club would pay and Piast 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.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Gornik Zabrze have gone to Jagiellonia 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.
“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 Gornik Zabrze, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at NK Domzale is saying, and nobody at Gornik Zabrze is enjoying the guessing.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Gornik Zabrze asked and Gornik Leczna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Legia 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Wisla Krakow have paid $3.8M for Roberto Massimo, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Wisla Krakow asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Wisla Krakow have gone to Gornik Leczna 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.
“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 Wisla Krakow, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Wisla Krakow had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Levadiakos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Oriol Rosell 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.
In brief
The terracesWisla Krakow spend $3.8M on the signing the town wanted
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Janis Antiste takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Janis Antiste provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mouscron keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
3 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.
Ondřej Zmrzlý 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.
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 Kacper Urbański was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wisla Krakow have gone to Gornik Zabrze 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at NK Domzale is saying, and nobody at Wisla Krakow is enjoying the guessing.
Marko Božić 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.
$100.0K on the table at Lechia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ángel Rodado was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.51. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oriol Rosell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wisla Krakow asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.