Successful dribbles: 42. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Voluntari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Antonio Čolak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kiki 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 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Botosani were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Antonio Čolak 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Voluntari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovro Cvek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑3 against Dinamo Bucharest, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Antonio Čolak 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 David Kiki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Voluntari can tell you which week it ends in.
6 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Polissia is saying, and nobody at Voluntari 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 Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lovro Cvek and Voluntari agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
George Merloi has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lovro Cvek has his answer from Voluntari; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Everything agreed with VfB Stuttgart, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daniel Deac after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
$500.0K was the most the club would pay and Viitorul 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Kiki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ciprian Iancu 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. Ianis Nedelcearu is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Viitorul this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Universitatea Craiova wanted more than $500.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ion Gheorghe 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.
The phone has started ringing about Eduard Chioveanu again, and this time the name on the line is Botosani. Voluntari are listening politely and promising nothing.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Voluntari can pretend not to have heard.
Voluntari had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Polissia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$440.0K on the table at Universitatea Craiova. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Voluntari know it.
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.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voluntari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Voluntari offered $25.0K; Astra 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
David Kiki 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.
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 Mihai Roman is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and O'Higgins waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Voluntari is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Voluntari offered $230.0K; Universitatea Craiova 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kiki 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.
Voluntari asked and Polissia 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Lisandru Olmeta had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
$11.0K on the table at Universitatea Craiova. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Voluntari offered $230.0K; Universitatea Craiova 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.
Botosani paid $260.0K and Voluntari took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Voluntari people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Doru Andrei 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 Jun 2027
David Kiki 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.
A loan enquiry to Mlada Boleslav: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Voluntari have made the call to Polissia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voluntari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Miguel Vieira has agreed terms with Petrolul for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Doru Andrei 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.
Squad31 May 2027
David Kiki 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.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Voluntari 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.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Voluntari argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
Market31 May 2027
Remus Guţea returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
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 words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Ion Gheorghe 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 Lovro Cvek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Voluntari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Erik Ingebrethsen has just signed for Voluntari, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kiki 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 Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20, and nobody at Voluntari signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Voluntari 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 David Kiki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pandurii will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Renato Amorim has pre-agreed a move to Voluntari, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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 Voluntari, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voluntari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marvin Schieb trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voluntari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Voluntari know 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 Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Voluntari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Mihai Roman is on it.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voluntari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari 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 David Kiki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Voluntari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 10 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
David Kiki 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Voluntari will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I watch every Voluntari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pandurii runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Voluntari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Voluntari are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Doru Andrei 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kiki is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Voluntari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Voluntari 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 words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Voluntari may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kiki 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.
Radu Crişan 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.
“I did not go to Dinamo Makhachkala to sit and watch. I want to come back to Voluntari and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voluntari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Voluntari, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voluntari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Doru Andrei 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
David Kiki 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 watch every Voluntari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pandurii runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Voluntari 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 words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
Doru Andrei 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 David Kiki 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.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voluntari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Voluntari can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Lovro Cvek 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.
In brief
The dugoutIon Gheorghe asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari 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 David Kiki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Voluntari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Voluntari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voluntari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari 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 David Kiki 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. Teplice have kept their man, and Voluntari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Voluntari, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Daubenfeld and Voluntari agree another 4 years.
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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: NK Domzale 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 Lisandru Olmeta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Voluntari will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Voluntari 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 offer from Korona for Lisandru Olmeta 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Polissia; Voluntari go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Voluntari 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Voluntari have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kiki 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Voluntari, another week without a signature from Mimito Biai.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Petar Zajc is in the works
Position 10 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
David Kiki 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. Zbrojovka Brno have kept their man, and Voluntari 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aarón Romero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voluntari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The phone has started ringing about Lisandru Olmeta again, and this time the name on the line is Korona. Voluntari are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Dinamo Bucharest 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.
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 Andrei Piţian is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Voluntari can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Legia 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 David Kiki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Voluntari asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Universitatea Craiova 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.
Voluntari have made the call to Pandurii. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Voluntari can pretend not to have heard.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Voluntari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The name of Remus Guţea has come up in conversations Voluntari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ion Gheorghe 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.
Position 10 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lisandru Olmeta is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ion Gheorghe 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 Lisandru Olmeta 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 Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
62 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Voluntari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Doru Andrei 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 Ion Gheorghe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Mihai Roman is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Voluntari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Voluntari, another week without a signature from Mimito Biai.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ianis Vencu
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ianis Vencu has come out of that comparison in the side, and Voluntari have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Doru Andrei signs something — a contract at Voluntari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Voluntari. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 10 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Voluntari, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Voluntari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ion Gheorghe 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 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voluntari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Voluntari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Doru Andrei 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 Ion Gheorghe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Andrei Piţian is on it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandru Olmeta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
10 new faces, and Voluntari 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Voluntari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gaël Delplanque has, at Voluntari, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Matko Babić will call it something else in private.
“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.
Gaël Delplanque is 19, and Voluntari have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Voluntari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Miguel Vieira has, at Voluntari, 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 Ion Gheorghe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Viitorul next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Daniel Deac left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Voluntari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Immanuel Hess is living that version at Voluntari, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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.
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Daniel Deac chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Voluntari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Doru Andrei 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: George Merloi. 1‑0 against Pandurii, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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.
12 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Voluntari 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marvin Schieb 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.
“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.
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.
Ion Gheorghe 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Voluntari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Voluntari know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
10 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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.
Position 10, 2 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Daniel Deac left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
“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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Voluntari 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Daniel Deac left the room before anybody could ask which.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Voluntari and CFR Cluj in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sigma Olomouc have kept their man, and Voluntari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandru Olmeta 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.
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.
Position 10 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Voluntari can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mimito Biai is living that version at Voluntari, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Voluntari 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 deal that would have taken Remus Guţea to Astra has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Voluntari with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Universitatea Craiova wanted more than $22.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
6 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.
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.
$22.0K was the most the club would pay and Universitatea Craiova 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bucharest have kept their man, and Voluntari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Andrei Piţian 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marvin Schieb 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.
Sigma Olomouc 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andrei Piţian
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The offer from Botosani for Remus Guţea 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.
Doru Andrei 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 offer went to Dinamo Bucharest this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
0‑3 to Pandurii, 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.
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.
Voluntari had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Haladas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$140.0K on the table at CFR Cluj. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The name of Remus Guţea has come up in conversations Voluntari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Voluntari asked and CFR Cluj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bucharest have kept their man, and Voluntari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Doru Andrei 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.
$18.0K on the table at Pandurii. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Florin Ratiu 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Burca 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ovidiu Moldovan 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. Alexandru Mihaila is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Doru Andrei's mistake