“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 The request is on a desk at Chapecoense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paulo Souza has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
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 Gustavo Talles is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Chapecoense has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chapecoense. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 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.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Gustavão has moved up 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 Mancha is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chapecoense. 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 Neto Pessoa signs something — a contract at Chapecoense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chapecoense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chapecoense 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 Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chapecoense know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Garcez has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chapecoense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Anderson 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 Djalma 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chapecoense will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chapecoense know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Ángel Martínez has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chapecoense can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from CRB for Léo Vieira 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ángel Martínez wants continental football; whether Chapecoense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The clock did what Guarani would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Chapecoense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djalma 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.
Chapecoense asked and Bragantino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. João Cunha has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“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 Chapecoense, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Altos had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chapecoense can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Chapecoense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Chapecoense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Léo Vieira has come up in conversations Chapecoense were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Leonardo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Chapecoense, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chapecoense can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The name of Gustavo Talles has come up in conversations Chapecoense were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djalma 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. Stade Rennais have kept their man, and Chapecoense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chapecoense can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Chapecoense 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 Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Chapecoense, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Deportivo Riestra 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.
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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Perotti was one of the reasons people came, and $5.5M does not replace that by itself.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mailson has agreed terms with CRB for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Djalma 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.
Iguatu paid $56.0K and Chapecoense took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tombense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chapecoense is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Yannick Bolasie 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 Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bruno Leonardo has his answer from Chapecoense; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Position 4, 32 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.
Yannick Bolasie 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 Chapecoense can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Chapecoense 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 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.
3 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.
“I watch every Chapecoense game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Flora 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. Chapecoense told Robert Santos something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Djalma 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 Chapecoense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walter Clar 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 Mancha is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anderson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chapecoense needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chapecoense. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chapecoense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Atlético Goianiense, position 13, come to town on Saturday. Nobody will call it a big game and nobody at the club will be treating it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ángel Martínez wants continental football; whether Chapecoense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Camilo 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 Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Santos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nicola Profeta has pre-agreed a move to Chapecoense, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Something was said to Anderson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Up for the corner, and Higor Meritão delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Higor Meritão scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Cuiabá were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Djalma wants continental football; whether Chapecoense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chapecoense has been clear about where Victor Caetano stands, which is more than many ever get.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Walter Clar 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.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
Player ratingsWalter Clar beats them one at a time
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than David
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chapecoense can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Chapecoense 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 Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Perotti had Chapecoense level again within 2 minutes, and Goiás never got to play with a lead at all.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chapecoense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chapecoense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Djalma’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chapecoense needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chapecoense. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
0‑3 to América Mineiro, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chapecoense can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Walter Clar 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Neto Pessoa wants continental football; whether Chapecoense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Chapecoense dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Chapecoense 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Robert Santos
“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 Chapecoense, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djalma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I watch every Chapecoense game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Flora runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Victor Caetano
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chapecoense can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Cacá has agreed terms with Maringá for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Djalma 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Hebert Cristian has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Chapecoense have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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.
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.
Bahia go through and Chapecoense go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ángel Martínez wants continental football; whether Chapecoense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chapecoense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chapecoense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Walter Clar 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Djalma wants continental football; whether Chapecoense can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Yannick Bolasie 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Chapecoense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djalma 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chapecoense, another week without a signature from Ángel Martínez.
The award goes to Perotti, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Chapecoense 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.
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 Kevin Ramírez is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chapecoense has been clear about where Kaíque Maciel stands, which is more than many ever get.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and CSA had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Chapecoense did not stop to explain themselves.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chapecoense people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chapecoense can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Higor Meritão, marked 7.79, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Operário Ferroviário spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ítalo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
Djalma 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.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Chapecoense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walter Clar 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.
Amazonas will want this one forgotten quickly: 14‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chapecoense were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yannick Bolasie provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Yannick Bolasie 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Diego Santos has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Foguete is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Romário has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pesadelo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Masr El Makasa for Ítalo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yannick Bolasie and Chapecoense agree another 2 years.
Yannick Bolasie 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 23 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.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Walter Clar 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Chapecoense had all but put away. Athletico Paranaense will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Still no offer on the table, and Perotti’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Chapecoense 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.