Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Volos NPS made Kifisia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kifisia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia 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.
“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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
In brief
The dugoutJohnson Eboh is still being punished for one mistake
0‑5 to OFI, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johnson Eboh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lazare Amani 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.
Marked 6.69 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Theodoridis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kifisia has been clear about where Ché Nunnely stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia 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 Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Kifisia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Niki Volos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nélson Campali has his answer from Kifisia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kifisia, 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 Rubén Pérez is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jorge Pombo signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Theodoridis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kifisia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1‑3 to Panetolikos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Theodoridis 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Spyridon Galanopoulos to a room that had heard them before.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Lazare Amani 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.
Kifisia asked and Ludogorets 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandros Anagnostopoulos, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Aleks Petkov 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Theodoridis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kifisia asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kifisia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Nestos Chrysoupoli for Johnson Eboh 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Kifisia close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything agreed with Zeleznicar Pancevo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Estudiantes is saying, and nobody at Kifisia is enjoying the guessing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kifisia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Tiago Manso 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.
Kifisia asked and River Plate 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Lazare Amani 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Kifisia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Platense have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
David Simón 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Aleks Petkov 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.
Kifisia have made the call to CSKA Sofia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia 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.
Kifisia asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerson Sousa 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I watch every Kifisia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Niki Volos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Kifisia 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 Perugia for Andrea Caleffi 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kifisia have done the hard part with Independiente, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes 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 Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nikodem Skupin 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.
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 Gerson Sousa is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ludogorets keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Lazare Amani 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 Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexandros Anagnostopoulos has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slaven Belupo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Lazare Amani 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Fotis Sgouris has just signed for Kifisia, and for once the answer mattered.
Kifisia asked and Unión de Santa Fe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A conversation is coming this week. Kifisia will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Gerson Sousa 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.
Everything agreed with Slaven Belupo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Tiago Manso 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 Aleks Petkov 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.
“I watch every Kifisia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Niki Volos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Kifisia have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kavala waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Hapoel Kfar Saba for Eli Revivo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Christos Ligdas is living that version at Kifisia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer went to OFI 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.
“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 Kifisia know it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Christos Ligdas is a Kifisia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ché Nunnely 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.
Kifisia asked and Ilioupoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
David Simón 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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kifisia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Independiente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The name of Apostolos Tsilingiris has come up in conversations Kifisia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kifisia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Vasilis Xenopoulos is a Kifisia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kifisia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Panetolikos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kifisia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleks Petkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Miguel Tavares is on it.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kifisia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
David Simón 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.
Add another name to the list: Panserraikos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Apostolos Tsilingiris. The answer from Kifisia has not changed — yet.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ilioupoli will make the call about Johnson Eboh this week. Kifisia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Simón 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
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Simón has written the date down.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Kifisia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
In brief
The dugoutGerson Sousa knocks on the manager's door
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Johnson Eboh signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kifisia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutRubén Pérez has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
Aleks Petkov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kifisia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kifisia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Giannis Doiranlis has moved up it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleks Petkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jorge Pombo signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Rubén Pérez is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kifisia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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.
David Simón 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandros Anagnostopoulos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Gerson Sousa is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tiago Manso signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
Johnson Eboh 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Konstantinos Apostolakis has moved up it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ché Nunnely trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Johnson Eboh 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Miguel Tavares is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kifisia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 7 on 33 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kifisia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑3 to Olympiacos, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Aleks Petkov 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.
9 combined actions and 7.00. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“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 Kifisia know it.
Giorgos Konstantakopoulos 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kifisia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Olympiacos next, and one man in the Kifisia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Gerson Sousa
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kifisia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Aleks Petkov 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.
Johnson Eboh 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kifisia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Volos NPS had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Kifisia did not stop to explain themselves.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kifisia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Jorge Pombo at his very best
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kifisia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Kifisia, 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.” Kifisia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Kifisia 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kifisia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Marko for Apostolos Tsilingiris 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giorgos Konstantakopoulos 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.
Kifisia have made the call to Levadiakos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Kifisia have made the call to Athens Kallithea. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Eli Revivo is 16, and Kifisia 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Add another name to the list: Marko have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Apostolos Tsilingiris. The answer from Kifisia has not changed — yet.
“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; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kifisia have made the call to Gornik Zabrze. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kampaniakos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from AEL Larisa for Apostolis Christopoulos 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kifisia asked and Vasco da Gama said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Imam Jagne 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kifisia can tell you which week it ends in.
The phone has started ringing about Johnson Eboh again, and this time the name on the line is Kampaniakos. Kifisia are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kifisia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kifisia can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Something was said to Johnson Eboh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Moisés Ramírez has gone, the accounts have $3.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Universidad Catolica paid $3.7M and Kifisia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
4 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Caleffi is living that version at Kifisia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Aleks Petkov 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 7, 21 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Spyridon Galanopoulos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Simón trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Imam Jagne has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kifisia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Rubén Pérez is on it.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
In brief
Player ratingsJohnson Eboh on a tightrope all afternoon
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Spyridon Galanopoulos after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gerson Sousa is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Olympiacos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazare Amani signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Imam Jagne 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: Imam Jagne. 1‑0 against Panserraikos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 dugout23 Nov 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Simón 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Panserraikos next, and one man in the Kifisia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
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 Kifisia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kifisia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Tiago Manso 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: Imam Jagne. 2‑1 against Asteras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Aleks Petkov 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.
The dugout9 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kifisia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than David Simón
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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 Kifisia prefer.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
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.
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.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Apostolis Christopoulos, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
At 28 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Kifisia have a decision that made itself.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kifisia had all but put away. OFI will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Apostolis Christopoulos has his answer from Kifisia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
10 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia 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 Apostolis Christopoulos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Lazare Amani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Angelo Sagal is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout5 Oct 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Miguel Tavares will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Kifisia escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miguel Tavares provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Rubén Pérez delivers — 7.54
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rubén Pérez scored, was marked 7.54, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.56 beside his name.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Lazare Amani 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Imam Jagne’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kifisia.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Imam Jagne was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Kifisia asked and Independiente 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 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 0‑3 Spyridon Galanopoulos left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benny trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than David Simón
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kifisia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Kifisia 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Independiente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Kifisia asked and Radnicki Nis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Kifisia 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.
AEK next, and one man in the Kifisia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
6 goals in one match, Jorge Pombo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kifisia and Aris Thessaloniki.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Dušan Jovanović is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Leonel Galván is in the works
$33.0K was the most the club would pay and AEK 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Independiente 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Aris Thessaloniki in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moisés Ramírez signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Moisés Ramírez
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Kifisia would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Kifisia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $35.0K — a club that wants Alexander Callens enough to be asked twice.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kifisia have done the hard part with Panetolikos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to AEK 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Aleks Petkov 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kifisia, another week without a signature from Mimito Biai.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ché Nunnely signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Kifisia is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dimitris Theodoridis and Kifisia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Lazare Amani 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ioannis Diamantakos 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anastasios Mandalos 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. Spyridon Manolas 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.
9 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.
Tiago Manso 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
49 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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Kifisia would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.