It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chico 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.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Tel Aviv know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Hapoel Tel Aviv hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Andrian Kraev 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.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Or Israelov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Tel Aviv know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Hapoel Tel Aviv would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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 Yazan Nassar is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Tel Aviv will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Or Israelov 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Hapoel Tel Aviv prefer.
Market8 Mar 2027
A year in the wrong dressing room for Ben Sørensen
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 2 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Hapoel Tel Aviv argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Hapoel Tel Aviv no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hapoel Tel Aviv, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Lior Kasa is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Tel Aviv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doron Leidner 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.
“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; Hapoel Tel Aviv are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market1 Mar 2027
Ben Sørensen returns from a loan that taught him nothing
2 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Hapoel Raanana will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hapoel Tel Aviv were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Position 2 on 62 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Chico 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Raanana in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
11 goals in one match, Stav Toriel on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Acre.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Raanana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv for Marcus Coco 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.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Hapoel Beer Sheva; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrian Kraev 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 Hapoel Tel Aviv, and 4 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shahar Piven will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ziv Morgan reports back to Hapoel Tel Aviv with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv heard it as anything else.
Chico 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 shape has not worked since the summer and the reason was never a mystery. Elad Madmon comes in from Maccabi Tel Aviv to be the missing piece, which is a flattering description and a heavy one.
Elad Madmon was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Hapoel Tel Aviv asked and Hapoel Acre 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hapoel Tel Aviv have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv have settled on $3.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Acre waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
$7.7M on the table at Bnei Sakhnin. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Hapoel Tel Aviv asked and Bnei Sakhnin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Tel Aviv can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hapoel Tel Aviv will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
4 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.
Andrian Kraev 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emmanuel Boateng provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Falcão scored, was marked 7.68, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Chico 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. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andrian Kraev 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ynal Bazdog and Hapoel Tel Aviv agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrian Kraev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Xande Silva 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stav Toriel. 1‑0 against Hapoel Haifa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Beitar Jerusalem next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tal Atzili kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 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.” Hapoel Tel Aviv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Andrian Kraev, marked 7.58, 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.
“I did not go to Bnei Yehuda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hapoel Tel Aviv and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
At 21 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv heard it as anything else.
Chico 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 Dec 2026
Andrian Kraev 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Andrian Kraev 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 Doron Leidner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
8.51. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 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 Hapoel Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Position 4, 28 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tal Atzili on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadGad Amos falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Yoni Ferber
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrian Kraev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emmanuel Boateng. 2‑0 against Hapoel Acre, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not go to Bnei Yehuda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hapoel Tel Aviv and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Tal Atzili could afford to be generous.
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.
In brief
The dugoutXande Silva knocks on the manager's door
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Andrian Kraev 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 Doron Leidner 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 Hapoel Tel Aviv, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Andrian Kraev 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ofir Glazer and Hapoel Tel Aviv agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 9.91 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsDoron Leidner beats them one at a time
9 goals in one match, Stav Toriel on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Netanya.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Andrian Kraev 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.
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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doron Leidner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ziv Morgan and Hapoel Tel Aviv agree another 3 years.
The goal that put Maccabi Tel Aviv ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Hapoel Tel Aviv equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Andrian Kraev 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dor Benyamini is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I watch every Hapoel Tel Aviv game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Raanana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Tal Atzili to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gad Amos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chico 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 Andrian Kraev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eitan Shechter 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. Lior Weissman 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.
A 1‑0 win over Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
1 for Tal Archel, marked 7.72, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv 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 Doron Leidner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I did not go to Bnei Yehuda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hapoel Tel Aviv and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Beitar Jerusalem in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Stav Toriel takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stav Toriel provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Andrian Kraev 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.
Hapoel Tel Aviv asked and Carrarese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Noam Ben-Harush 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 have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Hapoel Tel Aviv 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Hapoel Tel Aviv will try again when the window opens; Beitar Jerusalem may not be selling by then.
Andrian Kraev 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 Doron Leidner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beitar Jerusalem have accepted the money. What Hapoel Tel Aviv do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.9M has been paid because Noam Ben-Harush is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
He is going to Maccabi Netanya, the club has $1.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Bnei Sakhnin for Tal Archel 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.
Hapoel Tel Aviv asked and Bnei Sakhnin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at La Equidad is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is enjoying the guessing.
Maccabi Netanya pay $1.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
He is going to Beitar Jerusalem, the club has $1.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Maccabi Haifa for Roei Alkukin 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.
Beitar Jerusalem pay $1.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vasco da Gama is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona have kept their man, and Hapoel Tel Aviv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrian Kraev 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.
Hapoel Tel Aviv have made the call to Carrarese. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
$3.6M on the table at Maccabi Tel Aviv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$3.6M was the most the club would pay and Beitar Jerusalem 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.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Haifa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Andrian Kraev 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 Doron Leidner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Maccabi Petach Tikva for Daniel Dappa 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.
Hapoel Tel Aviv have gone to Maccabi Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The deal with Vasco da Gama is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stav Toriel and Hapoel Tel Aviv agree another 5 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv 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 Chico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dor Peretz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beitar Jerusalem have kept their man, and Hapoel Tel Aviv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Chico 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andrian Kraev 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Emmanuel Boateng’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Hapoel Tel Aviv has been clear about where Anas Mahamid stands, which is more than many ever get.