The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Coritiba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Coritiba have paid $3.7M for Marco Antônio, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Athletico Paranaense did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.2M for Felipe Aguirre, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marco Antônio has, at Coritiba, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The fee is $620.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Goianésia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Coritiba had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Rodríguez and Coritiba agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Coritiba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Coritiba have done the hard part with Inter de Limeira, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$1.1M on the table at Athletico Paranaense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$620.0K on the table at Goianésia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other 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 Coritiba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Guarani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Éberth. The answer from Coritiba has not changed — yet.
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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Coritiba can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matheus Bianqui scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lucas Ronier wants continental football; whether Coritiba can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
Sebastián Gómez 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Lavega was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joaquín Lavega, and the manager let it.
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.” Paulo Tavares, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coritiba can pretend not to have heard.
Sebastián Gómez 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 Matheus Bianqui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Remo next, and one man in the Coritiba dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Renato Marques provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jacy Maranhão 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Bianqui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 88, against Criciúma, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
Jacy Maranhão 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.
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.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Bianqui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Breno Lopes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Paulo Tavares on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pedro Morisco is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Sebastián Gómez 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
Words at Coritiba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Bianqui 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.
Something was said to Lucas Ronier and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
Nobody at Coritiba 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coritiba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
12 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.
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 Rodrigo Gelado is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Atlético Goianiense in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Coritiba can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Bianqui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Coritiba will try not to make too much of it.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paulo Tavares after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Thiago Santos 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 Coritiba 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
7 goals in 5 games at Londrina — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Coritiba updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Athletic Club will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Coritiba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coritiba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Ronier 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.
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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Paulo Tavares, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Coritiba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ararat had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diogo Batista will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coritiba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Diogo Batista has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coritiba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Bianqui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Coritiba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Bianqui 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Coritiba will try not to make too much of it.
12 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Joaquín Lavega has come out of that comparison in the side, and Coritiba have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jacy Maranhão’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Coritiba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Joaquín Lavega, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Sebastián Gómez 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 21 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” ENPPI had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. JP Chermont did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Sebastián Gómez 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: 22. 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rodrigo Rodrigues. 1‑0 against Avaí, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.12. 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.
In brief
SquadMatheus Bianqui falls out with a teammate over standards
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coritiba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Brandão 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.
A 1‑0 win over Volta Redonda, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Éberth was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
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 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.
The offer from Gabala for Tiago Cóser 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.
Sebastián Gómez 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 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Felipe Pereira 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. Gabriel Costa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Operário Ferroviário spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joaquín Lavega did not need any: 8.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lucas Ronier wants continental football; whether Coritiba can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Words at Coritiba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Gómez 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.