Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neman will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Dnepr Mogilev for Mateush Montevka was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neman can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 Andrey Solovey is on 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 The request is on a desk at Neman, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Mateush Montevka has come up in conversations Neman were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Neman 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“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 Neman will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neman can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman 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 Mateusz Pruchniewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Dmitriy Girs is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yan Kavalyou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Andrey Yakimov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadMaxim Autko is the talk of the training ground
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Veidyger 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 Andrey Solovey 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 Neman, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sergey Pushnyakov 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marat Vasilkevich is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kirill Semashko 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Dmitriy Girs is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Neman will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Neman. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neman, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 Andrey Solovey is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateusz Pruchniewski 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shérif Jimoh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Egor Khoroshun signs something — a contract at Neman or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neman lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Danil Ananka 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neman, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutKirill Semashko has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexey Shalashnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neman the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sergey Pushnyakov 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Neman will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Dmitriy Girs'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateush Montevka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neman lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neman they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I watch every Neman game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ostrovets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateusz Pruchniewski is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mateush Montevka has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Matysyuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neman lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Andrey Solovey 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 Neman, 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neman lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neman is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Veidyger 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.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neman lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neman is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Veidyger is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neman, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neman lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neman they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
18 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Sergey Pushnyakov 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergei Savitski is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ihar Chalavach is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateusz Pruchniewski 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateush Montevka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neman lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexey Shalashnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neman the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sergey Pushnyakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitriy Girs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neman the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Veidyger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 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 words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neman they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ilya Kirko has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 goal that put Vitebsk ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Neman equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Nobody at Neman will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neman will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Neman scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Armando González provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Neman close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 12 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Neman go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neman will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Smorgon for Guljigit Borubaev 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neman they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dynamo Kyiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman 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. Matvey Papulin has just signed for Neman, and for once the answer mattered.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neman is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Minsk had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andrey Yakimov
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guljigit Borubaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neman the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kirill Semashko did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Dmitriy Girs has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Leshko has agreed terms with Slutsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Neman have paid $110.0K for Andrey Solovey, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Sergey Pushnyakov 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 Kirill Veidyger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Maxim Kravtsov again, and this time the name on the line is BATE. Neman are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Slutsk for Guljigit Borubaev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Guljigit Borubaev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The offer went to Slavia Mozyr 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Igor Monich has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Neman have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kirill Savitski 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. Valery Ihnatovich 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. Aliaksandr Balanovich 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.
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.
Sergey Pushnyakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Add another name to the list: Orsha have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Danil Ananka. The answer from Neman has not changed — yet.