From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.2M — a club that wants Jeremy Antonisse enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AEK
Lorenzo Pirola 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Alberto Brignoli again, and this time the name on the line is Olympiacos. AEK are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market24 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Petros Mantalos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AEK.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AEK would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
Next up at home: Volos NPS, who go into it in position 14. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Oleksandr Zubkov has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Athens Kallithea had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and AEK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.7M — a club that wants Simos Mitoglou enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Atromitos wanted more than $480.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“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 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AEK have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
In brief
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Squad
12 new faces, and AEK are still learning each other
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Squad
A season on the outside for Lovro Majer
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Squad
A wage question at AEK
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Aug 2026
Lorenzo Pirola arrives at AEK in a $3.8M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. AEK have paid $3.8M for Lorenzo Pirola, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volos NPS have kept their man, and AEK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AEK offered $1.6M; 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Oleksandr Zubkov wants to know where this is going
“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 AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.7M — a club that wants Simos Mitoglou enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lovro Majer commits to AEK for another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
An offer of $480.0K for Seny Dieng
AEK 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
380 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valencia have kept their man, and AEK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Aug 2026
Luka Jović wants more than AEK are offering
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luka Jović commits to AEK for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at AEK
Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.