“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 The request is on a desk at Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $480.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cherno More drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aldair Faustino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jun 2028
12 new faces, and Levski 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.
The offer from Skonto for Mehdi Moubarik 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.
Everything agreed with Cherno More, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. José Gallegos has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
Serginho 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 most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. José Gallegos comes from Botev Vratsa for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Levski asked and Racing Club 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 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.
CSKA Sofia arrived with $14.4M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Mustapha Sangaré has gone, the accounts have $14.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Levski have gone to Botev Vratsa with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The deal with CSKA Sofia 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $180.0K — a club that wants Filip Gigov enough to be asked twice.
Serginho 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levski have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Levski offered $710.0K; Minyor Pernik said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Marko Grujić 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.
$140.0K on the table at Ludogorets. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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. Levski will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
This is not rotation. Maicon has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maicon 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.
32 games, 20 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Levski now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Akram Bouras is on it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Radostin Stoilov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski 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 Oliver Kamdem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Levski, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Levski 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.
4 goals in 29 games at Yantra — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
20 goals in 32 games at Dobrudzha — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 at Levski 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 trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Levski has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Marko Grujić 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 Léo Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levski 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Everton Bala signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Levski has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mehdi Moubarik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Marko Grujić 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Léo Pereira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serginho signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Levski would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Serginho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aldair Faustino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levski 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.
4 goals in 31 games at Montana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aldair Faustino 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 Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Levski will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Kamdem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Levski game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokomotiv Plovdiv runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serginho is on it.
Position 3, 57 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.
Maicon 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 Aldair Faustino 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; Levski are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Levski game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vihren runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
4 goals in 30 games at Montana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marto Boychev and Levski agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Kamdem 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.
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 Mustapha Sangaré is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Levski would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
19 goals in 30 games at Dobrudzha — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
This is not rotation. Mehdi Moubarik has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldair Faustino 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 Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
17 goals in 29 games at Dobrudzha — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Aleksandar Bastunov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Levski have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
23 appearances and 9 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
In brief
SquadWords at Levski training over how hard people work
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 57 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Pereira 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ivan Tilev has pre-agreed a move to Levski, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Minyor Pernik will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Radoslav Apostolov has pre-agreed a move to Levski, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aldair Faustino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
George Feeney had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Marek were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The deal that would have taken Mustapha Sangaré to CSKA Sofia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Levski with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
George Feeney, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
This is not rotation. Maicon has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Levski 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.
Maicon 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Pereira 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is going to CSKA Sofia, the club has $8.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Add another name to the list: CSKA Sofia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mustapha Sangaré. The answer from Levski has not changed — yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Wigan Athletic is saying, and nobody at Levski is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitar Iliev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CSKA Sofia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levski 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 Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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 7.97 for the rest of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levski have done the hard part with Wigan Athletic, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Dimitar Iliev 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.
Levski and CSKA Sofia have settled on $11.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Everton Bala decided otherwise. Spartak 1918 had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levski have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levski have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chase for Joël Zwarts ended with $790.0K changing hands and CSKA Sofia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Nyíregyháza for Marko Grujić 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.
Position 3, 47 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levski have done the hard part with CSKA Sofia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Giorgy Uridia has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
Maicon 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Levski have had the benefit of it.
Maicon 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. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 matches without defeat, and then Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Terentjev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Stanimir Delev could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutTomáš Vaclík has become a man the manager trusts
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Terentjev 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Everton Bala at his very best
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sasho Grancharov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Three points for Levski, 1‑0 the final word against Yantra in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Terentjev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Everton Bala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Stanimir Delev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutSerginho has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Levski is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serginho. 1‑0 against Botev Plovdiv, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
1‑4 against CSKA Sofia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stanimir Delev after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Serginho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sasho Grancharov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Levski will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Levski told Luka Mlakar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Maicon 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.
Position 3, 32 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Levski prefer.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Radostin Stoilov obliged against Botev Vratsa. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Levski.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Radostin Stoilov did not need any: 8.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Radostin Stoilov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
30 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski 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 Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Oct 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Levski. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 8.52 — 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Marek spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Terentjev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.09. 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levski, and both men came out saying it was fine.
6 goals in 10 games at Spartak Pleven — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
100 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ivan Tasev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Sasho Grancharov 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Stanimir Delev, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutMazire Soula has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Serginho 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Luka Mlakar has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Aldair Faustino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Position 3, 18 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Levski will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Mustapha Sangaré will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Levski escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mustapha Sangaré provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Petržalka for Steven Stoyanchov 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Maicon 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Radostin Stoilov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Levski close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 31 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.
Marko Grujić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The name of Boris Krstić has come up in conversations Levski were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Terentjev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levski they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
9 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.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levski have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mustapha Sangaré provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sasho Grancharov did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
1 for Viktor Lyubenov, marked 7.44, 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Boris Krstić is living that version at Levski, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Aldair Faustino has come up in conversations Levski were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Maicon 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 dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Boris Krstić is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Terentjev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levski 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 deal with Púchov 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Everton Bala. 2‑0 against Yantra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Terentjev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Levski told Marko Grujić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The offer went to Púchov 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.
Levski asked and Randers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑1 win over Botev Plovdiv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zurich have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
CSKA Sofia paid $2.9M and Levski took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Marko Grujić 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Levski asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kristian Iliev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kiril Mihaylov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Plamen Kraev 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.
$17.4M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levski have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He is going to Newcastle United, the club has $17.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The fee is $1.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. CSKA Sofia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Levski asked and Debrecen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Levski have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski 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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
$740.0K on the table at Lokomotiv Plovdiv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Serginho 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armstrong Oko-Flex is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levski is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Levski offered $790.0K; Lokomotiv Plovdiv said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Levski asked and Pirin Blagoevgrad 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 phone has started ringing about Reinaldo again, and this time the name on the line is Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Levski 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sportist Svoge waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Levski have gone to Lokomotiv Plovdiv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Chernomorets Burgas wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market21 Jun 2027
Levski may not be able to give Maicon what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maicon wants continental football; whether Levski can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maicon 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Gašper Trdin to Yantra has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Levski with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Radostin Stoilov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Plovdiv have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutMazire Soula has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Christian Makoun was one of the reasons people came, and $4.9M does not replace that by itself.
Tomáš Vaclík was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Martín Contreras has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Levski have had the benefit of it.
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.
21 games and 5 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad31 May 2027
12 new faces, and Levski 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 Serginho is on it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Christian Makoun may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutAkram Bouras knocks on the manager's door
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tomáš Vaclík will call it something else in private.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Marko Grujić'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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stanimir Delev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Marko Grujić 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mazire Soula is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Dugandžić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 goals in 24 games at Marek — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Ivo Motev 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 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 Marko Grujić is on 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Levski will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
Serginho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serginho is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Grujić signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kaloyan Kostov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kristian Mladenov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Milko Stoyanov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lyubomir Tsvetanov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Todor Atanasov 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.
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 Tomáš Vaclík is on 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 Levski, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 3, 65 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski 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.
Nobody at Levski 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Álex Centelles signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Marko Grujić has written the date down.
3 goals in 24 games at Marek — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Serginho 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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 Levski know it.
Nobody at Levski 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. Levski know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levski, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Serginho 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Levski will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The offer from KFUM Oslo for Armstrong Oko-Flex 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.
Marko Grujić 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hristo Argirov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armstrong Oko-Flex was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Nobody at Levski 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ognyan Vladimirov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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 Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Álex Centelles signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Tomáš Vaclík 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Marko Grujić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kaloyan Kostov is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The phone has started ringing about Armstrong Oko-Flex again, and this time the name on the line is Åsane. Levski are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Tomáš Vaclík was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Levski 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Grujić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Levski know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9.62. 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Diogo Ferreira'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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutMarko Grujić asks for a word with the manager
Tomáš Vaclík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“The 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Levski has been clear about where Reinaldo stands, which is more than many ever get.
The offer from Valerenga for Everton Bala 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.
Serginho 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Everton Bala 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Tomáš Vaclík.
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Levski 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula 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. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from CSKA Sofia for Mustapha Sangaré 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.
7.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Levski close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 10 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.
CSKA Sofia paid $180.0K and Levski took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Denis Terentjev 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sheffield Wednesday had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Casa Pia for Serginho 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.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Botosani had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Pirin Blagoevgrad for Radoslav Kirilov 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.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Viborg; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Tomáš Vaclík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Levski scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 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.
Add another name to the list: Pirin Blagoevgrad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Radoslav Kirilov. The answer from Levski has not changed — yet.
The offer from CSKA Sofia for Christian Makoun 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.
5 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.
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. Levski will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Position 2 with 51 on the board, and the queues outside the ticket office are the part of a promotion push that never shows up in a table. The town has decided this one is real.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Septemvri spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I watch every Levski game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Minyor Pernik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Serginho provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ludogorets scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mustapha Sangaré provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Maicon 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 3‑2 win over Botev Plovdiv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7.93, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Levski had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Stanimir Delev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Serafimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levski is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Grujić knocks on the manager’s door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon 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. Levski will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Levski, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Marko Dugandžić is on 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 Levski, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
9 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maicon 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serginho. 2‑0 against Beroe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Karl Fabien obliged against Spartak 1918. 6‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Levski.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Position 3, 29 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adrian Raychev did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Levski and Spartak 1918, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 9.56 — 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Serginho provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Levski. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Maicon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Serafimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marko Dugandžić is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Everton Bala signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Cherno More next, and one man in the Levski dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Levski. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Position 3, 20 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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon 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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Metalist for Kristian Dimitrov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Teodor Raykov has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. FC Annecy moved on, Christian Makoun reports back to Levski, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
7.82, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
Álex Centelles 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. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
“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 Levski, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Everton Bala reports back to Levski with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1 for Serginho, marked 7.86, 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Annecy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Armstrong Oko-Flex reports back to Levski with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Levski 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.
Levski have gone to Botev Plovdiv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levski asked and CSKA 1948 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Everton Bala again, and this time the name on the line is Beitar Jerusalem. Levski are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Levski know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
7.84, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Levski had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Levski 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.
Levski have made the call to Gimnasia La Plata. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The offer from Ferencvaros for Christian Makoun 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Svetoslav Vutsov was one of the reasons people came, and $4.4M does not replace that by itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Ludogorets for Svetoslav Vutsov 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Marto Boychev takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marto Boychev provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
$820.0K on the table at Lokomotiv Plovdiv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $850.0K — a club that wants Julien Lamy enough to be asked twice.
Maicon 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula 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 offer from Moreirense for Everton Bala 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.
“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.
Levski offered $1.3M; Botev Plovdiv said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.4M — a club that wants Carlos Algarra enough to be asked twice.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Levski have gone to CSKA 1948 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Marko Grujić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.