Dimitris Kaloskamis 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.
A 2‑0 win over Ilioupoli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nuurdin Ali Mohudin 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. AEL Larisa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Dimitris Kaloskamis 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyriakos Aslanidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEL Larisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Álex Petxarromán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 AEL Larisa, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and AEL Larisa know which stage they are at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEL Larisa, 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 Ylian Pierre is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chania in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AEL Larisa would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Position 5, 16 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Álex Petxarromán 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 Davíð Kristján Ólafsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
7 goals in 10 games at Panionios — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AEL Larisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyriakos Aslanidis 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.
8.15. 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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AEL Larisa told Tadej Bonaca something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jeremiah Berkeley-Agyepong has come out of that comparison in the side, and AEL Larisa have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Álex Petxarromán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 36, 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. AEL Larisa will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davíð Kristján Ólafsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AEL Larisa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at PAOK runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Something was said to Marko Dabro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyriakos Aslanidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. AEL Larisa know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AEL Larisa has been clear about where Joy-Slayd Mickels stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at AEL Larisa 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 11 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nuurdin Ali Mohudin has just signed for AEL Larisa, and for once the answer mattered.
Dimitris Kaloskamis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ylian Pierre had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Panetolikos were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
Panargiakos left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyriakos Aslanidis 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 AEL Larisa, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AEL Larisa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL Larisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
6 goals in one match, Dimitris Kaloskamis on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AEL Larisa and Ilioupoli.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AEL Larisa asked and Atromitos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. AEL Larisa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at AEL Larisa 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 instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AEL Larisa have done the hard part with BSK Bijelo Brdo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AEL Larisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at AEL Larisa
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kampaniakos had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AEL Larisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
AEL Larisa asked and Lokomotiva 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.
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Ryan Sweeney, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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.
AEL Larisa have made the call to Lokomotiv Plovdiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Zisis Chatzistravos is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed Kossonou asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything was agreed with BSK Bijelo Brdo and then the doctor spoke. AEL Larisa have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The deal with Lokomotiva Zagreb 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Everybody at AEL Larisa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
AEL Larisa asked and OFI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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 AEL Larisa has been clear about where Emir Velić stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEL Larisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
AEL Larisa asked and Atromitos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippo Perucchini and AEL Larisa agree another 1 years.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Fernandes's mistake
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.
A loan enquiry to Mladost Lucani: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aaron Leya Iseka signs something — a contract at AEL Larisa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEL Larisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Álex Petxarromán 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 Jorge Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
AEL Larisa have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa 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.
AEL Larisa asked and Niki Volos 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 AEL Larisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dimitris Kaloskamis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEL Larisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AEL Larisa, another week without a signature from Ahmed Kossonou.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Fernandes's mistake
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.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Hellas Syros for Dimitris Bataoulas 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 deal with Lokomotiv Plovdiv 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.
Álex Petxarromán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Fernandes 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.
AEL Larisa asked and Levadiakos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jun 2029
10 new faces, and AEL Larisa 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AEL Larisa people have started saying his name 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 AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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 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 AEL Larisa know it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Makedonikos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Dimitris Bataoulas to Anagennisi Karditsa has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AEL Larisa with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“The easiest signature of my career.” King Faisal Owusu and AEL Larisa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at AEL Larisa now.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Fernandes 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.
AEL Larisa asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Anagennisi Karditsa 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.
The phone has started ringing about Nuno Barbosa again, and this time the name on the line is Athens Kallithea. AEL Larisa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Fernandes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filippo Perucchini and AEL Larisa agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 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 AEL Larisa 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 Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Filippo Perucchini arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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. AEL Larisa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ryan Sweeney 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 King Faisal Owusu is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Fernandes 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; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Paul Reulet 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 at AEL Larisa 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody 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.
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 AEL Larisa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ilioupoli runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed Kossonou asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Álex Petxarromán 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 Jorge Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at AEL Larisa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Álex Petxarromán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jeremiah Berkeley-Agyepong has, at AEL Larisa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zisis Chatzistravos is on it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bálint Rehó has just signed for AEL Larisa, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 AEL Larisa, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Bálint Rehó arrives at AEL Larisa with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEL Larisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paul Reulet 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.
Ylian Pierre is 20, and AEL Larisa 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.
Ciro Orlando is 17, and AEL Larisa 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmed Kossonou 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 King Faisal Owusu is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AEL Larisa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Álex Petxarromán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Manu Rivas has, at AEL Larisa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zisis Chatzistravos is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmed Kossonou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ahmed Kossonou 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Carlos Ortíz commits to AEL Larisa for another 1 years.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AEL Larisa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“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 AEL Larisa, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa 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.
At 34, 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.
Nobody at AEL Larisa 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.
Position 3, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Kossonou 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fredrik Krogstad and AEL Larisa agree another 2 years.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The 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.
Fredrik Krogstad is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Álex Petxarromán 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davíð Kristján Ólafsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AEL Larisa 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutNuno Barbosa knocks on the manager's door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL Larisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Kossonou 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joy-Slayd Mickels and AEL Larisa agree another 1 years.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AEL Larisa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nuno Barbosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $95.7K of what AEL Larisa paid for Noah Verhoeven is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Kossonou 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle Jets have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Shane Duffy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ryan Sweeney is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Álex Petxarromán 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panathinaikos have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Dimitris Bataoulas has come up in conversations AEL Larisa 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 Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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.” Kyriakos Aslanidis and AEL Larisa agree another 3 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEL Larisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Kossonou 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 at AEL Larisa 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1‑5 against Olympiacos B, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panargiakos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
6 goals in one match, Aaron Leya Iseka on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AEL Larisa and Olympiacos B.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.58 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zisis Chatzistravos and AEL Larisa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 AEL Larisa know it.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Panionios were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Add another name to the list: Kampaniakos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dimitris Bataoulas. The answer from AEL Larisa has not changed — yet.
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. AEL Larisa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Panionios 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Ryan Sweeney and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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 Dimitrios Giakoumakis left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutNo place for Ryan Sweeney on the big day
Athens Kallithea 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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.
Shane Duffy 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dimitrios Giakoumakis after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Kossonou 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AEL Larisa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for AEL Larisa is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It needed Aaron Leya Iseka to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Panargiakos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dimitrios Giakoumakis chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Anass Zaroury was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL Larisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Nov 2028
6 new faces, and AEL Larisa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zisis Chatzistravos is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa 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 AEL Larisa 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.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AEL Larisa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Panionios; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dimitrios Giakoumakis left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nicolas Trabucchi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmed Kossonou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. AEL Larisa will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ahmed Kossonou 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 at AEL Larisa 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Egaleo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL Larisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Álex Petxarromán 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 Ahmed Kossonou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.35. 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 110th minute. Levadiakos will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Nicolas Trabucchi, marked 7.11, 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.
Álex Petxarromán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Anass Zaroury was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“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 AEL Larisa know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyriakos Aslanidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Panargiakos will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AEL Larisa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL Larisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” King Faisal Owusu and AEL Larisa agree another 3 years.
In brief
SquadAhmed Kossonou falls out with a teammate over standards
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Michalis Pardalos has, at AEL Larisa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kalamata have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Kossonou 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emmanouil Tsadjaris has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stavros Ioannidis has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stylianos Papanikolaou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pavlos Pelkas 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.
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Ilioupoli, and it could have been more.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A brace, and Nuno Barbosa takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nuno Barbosa provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEL Larisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $489.6K of what AEL Larisa paid for Tasos Donis is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.77 for the rest of it.
In brief
BoardroomDeadline passes with 26 signed and 21 gone
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zisis Chatzistravos provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chase for Bi Djei ended with $52.0K changing hands and Nestos Chrysoupoli out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
9 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.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with Nestos Chrysoupoli, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kalamata have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“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; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AEL Larisa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
AEL Larisa asked and Panionios 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. AEL Larisa know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$54.0K on the table at Nestos Chrysoupoli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEL Larisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and AEL Larisa will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andreas Makris had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $98.5K of what AEL Larisa paid for Anestis Vlachomitros is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Hélder Suker again, and this time the name on the line is Stade Nyonnais. AEL Larisa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Álex Petxarromán 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.
$54.0K on the table at Nestos Chrysoupoli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Álex Petxarromán 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 Davíð Kristján Ólafsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
9 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 87% of everything AEL Larisa earn
The dugoutRyan Sweeney asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Nestos Chrysoupoli 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.
“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; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 131 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Tasos Donis again, and this time the name on the line is Atromitos. AEL Larisa are listening politely and promising nothing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 139 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Panathinaikos paid $710.0K and AEL Larisa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The fee is $76.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Panserraikos drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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.
Pione Sisto 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.
AEL Larisa asked and AEZ Zakakiou 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with Panserraikos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The phone has started ringing about Hélder Suker again, and this time the name on the line is Szeged-Csanád GA. AEL Larisa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AEK is saying, and nobody at AEL Larisa is enjoying the guessing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alexis Coquard has, at AEL Larisa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEL Larisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Atromitos for Yvann Maçon 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
The deal with AEK 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.
Yvann Maçon 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davíð Kristján Ólafsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
18 games, 8 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at AEL Larisa now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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. AEL Larisa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Zisis Chatzistravos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 10 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nacho Castillo is living that version at AEL Larisa, and it tends to show in the first month.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Boardroom15 May 2028
101% of the income goes out in wages at AEL Larisa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Nobody at AEL Larisa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antonio Zarzana 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Yvann Maçon is on it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Erick Ferigra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AEL Larisa, another week without a signature from Hélder Suker.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Erick Ferigra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Apostolis Christopoulos has written the date down.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Hélder Suker’s negotiating for him
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
101% of the income goes out in wages at AEL Larisa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
8 goals in 18 games at Anagennisi Karditsa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AEL Larisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at AEL Larisa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEL Larisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Álex Petxarromán and AEL Larisa agree another 3 years.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Antonio Zarzana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa 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.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 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 AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
103% of the income goes out in wages at AEL Larisa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Antonio Zarzana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at AEL Larisa 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL Larisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Kossonou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL Larisa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davíð Kristján Ólafsson and AEL Larisa agree another 3 years.
Antonio Zarzana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Something was said to Yvann Maçon and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL Larisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
8 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEL Larisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutHélder Suker knocks on the manager's door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL Larisa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Raufoss for Hélder Suker 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Hélder Suker has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davíð Kristján Ólafsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and AEL Larisa know now that the thought has arrived.
Pione Sisto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 151 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL Larisa can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Zisis Chatzistravos is a AEL Larisa player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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 new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AEL Larisa, another week without a signature from Aaron Leya Iseka.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AEL Larisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEL Larisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
AEL Larisa close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at AEL Larisa has worked with Zisis Chatzistravos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pione Sisto
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kyriakos Aslanidis has, at AEL Larisa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AEL Larisa will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davíð Kristján Ólafsson 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.
Panathinaikos pay $47.0K, 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hellas Syros waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
8 goals in 18 games at Anagennisi Karditsa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AEL Larisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AEL Larisa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Nikos Melissas is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kavala waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEL Larisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 3 on 32 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.
The fee is $180.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Anagennisi Karditsa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Antonio Zarzana 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 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 AEL Larisa know 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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Anagennisi Karditsa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yvann Maçon 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asteras have kept their man, and AEL Larisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Spyridon Stafylidis 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.