The offer from NK Osijek for Ivo Grbić 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 Ludogorets II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ludogorets II people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ludogorets II would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Hellas Verona had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The name of Bojan Milosavljević has come up in conversations Ludogorets II were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Damyan Hristov signs something — a contract at Ludogorets II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 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.
Position 16 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market31 May 2027
Ivo Grbić returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Market31 May 2027
Ivan Yordanov returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Ludogorets II was different afterwards.
“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; Ludogorets II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Ludogorets II the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ludogorets II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Filip Gigov
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ludogorets II will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Gigov knocks on the manager's door
SquadThe selectors could not leave Kwadwo Duah out
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Filip Gigov did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It had gone 15 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Kwadwo Duah takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kwadwo Duah provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A 2‑0 win over CSKA Sofia II, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Hristo Slavchev could afford to be generous.
1 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
1 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Ludogorets II will have this month.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 18 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑11 against Belasitsa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 16 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 11 goals between Ludogorets II and Belasitsa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Ludogorets II dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutFilip Gigov asks for a word with the manager
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match13 Feb 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Minyor Pernik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hristo Slavchev after 0‑11, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Gigov asks for a word with the manager
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 23 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 20 goals between Ludogorets II and Yantra, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
16 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Vihren in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑15 Hristo Slavchev left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Ludogorets II was different afterwards.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 45 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑14 against Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Add another name to the list: Septemvri have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Damyan Hristov. The answer from Ludogorets II has not changed — yet.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 17 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Ludogorets II and Dunav Ruse, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hristo Slavchev after 0‑8, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
“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.
0‑3 to Chernomorets Burgas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Damyan Hristov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Ludogorets II dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Hristo Slavchev to a room that had heard them before.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Add another name to the list: Spartak 1918 have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Damyan Hristov. The answer from Ludogorets II has not changed — yet.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ludogorets II can tell you which week it ends in.
Match2 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Fratria in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 42. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
0‑10 against Pirin Blagoevgrad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ludogorets II are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Pirin Blagoevgrad in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ludogorets II can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Ludogorets II dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 52. 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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hristo Slavchev after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Chances created: 6. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hristo Slavchev after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Position 16, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Etar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑6 Hristo Slavchev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
Successful dribbles: 55. 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hristo Slavchev after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Next up on the road: Spartak Pleven, position 7. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Filip Gigov did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Gigov 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ludogorets II will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout2 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.” Hristo Slavchev, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ludogorets II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Ludogorets II 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.
Successful dribbles: 51. 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.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Hristo Slavchev to a room that had heard them before.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Ludogorets II was different afterwards.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 21 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match3 Oct 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
12 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Minyor Pernik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hristo Slavchev after 1‑11, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“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 Ludogorets II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
0‑9 to Yantra, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Ludogorets II and Yantra, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Vihren in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑3 to Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Hristo Slavchev left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Gigov knocks on the manager’s door
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Damyan Hristov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hebar moved on, Georgi Terziev reports back to Ludogorets II, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ludogorets II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Looking aheadLudogorets II take on the side everybody is chasing
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ludogorets II have lost him in all but the paperwork.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Hristo Slavchev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Add another name to the list: Ventspils have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Damyan Hristov. The answer from Ludogorets II has not changed — yet.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Ludogorets II squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Chances created: 4. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets II and Fratria in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Ludogorets II dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Georgi Terziev has his answer from Ludogorets II; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ludogorets II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
274 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The offer from Pirin Blagoevgrad for Georgi Terziev 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 easiest signature of my career.” Damyan Hristov and Ludogorets II agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The phone has started ringing about Filip Gigov again, and this time the name on the line is Vihren. Ludogorets II are listening politely and promising nothing.
Georgi Terziev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ludogorets II will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hristo Slavchev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ludogorets II dressing room was either.