The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Palmeiras 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 Palmeiras can pretend not to have heard.
Palmeiras have gone to Cuiabá 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Palmeiras had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The fee is $2.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Flamengo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joaquín Freitas has just signed for Palmeiras, and for once the answer mattered.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $7.2M — a club that wants Eliel enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Palmeiras and Flamengo have settled on $2.2M. 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Central had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cuiabá have kept their man, and Palmeiras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Erick Belé has come up in conversations Palmeiras were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Riquelme Felipe'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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Palmeiras has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
The dugoutMateus Xavier has become a man the manager trusts
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $51.7M has been paid because Darwin Núñez is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Darwin Núñez has, at Palmeiras, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Alexander Barboza 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Palmeiras will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Palmeiras have gone to Al-Hilal 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.
The offer from Fluminense for Kaio Jorge 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 chase for Arthur ended with $3.2M changing hands and Ceará out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Arthur is living that version at Palmeiras, and it tends to show in the first month.
$590.0K was the most the club would pay and Atlético Mineiro were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Riquelme Felipe is 20, 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 Arthur again, and this time the name on the line is Penarol. Palmeiras are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is 20, and nobody at Palmeiras signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Palmeiras and Santos have settled on $2.0M. 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.
Palmeiras have gone to Ceará 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.
The offer from Palestino for Luciano Acosta 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
$560.0K on the table at Atlético Mineiro. 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 $630.0K — a club that wants Mamady Cissé enough to be asked twice.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Goiás have kept their man, and Palmeiras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Heittor, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 goals in 37 games at Novorizontino — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Luís Fernandes to a room that had heard them before.
A mark of 8.21 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.
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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Kaio Jorge was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.71. 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.
He is 21 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.
Marlon Freitas 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 Palmeiras 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.
8 goals in 14 games at Club America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Palmeiras would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kaio Jorge’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Palmeiras needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras 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: Luciano Acosta. 3‑1 against Vasco da Gama, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 21 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Heittor is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Palmeiras will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
In brief
The dugoutCarlos Miguel is still being punished for one mistake
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Heittor did not need any: 8.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Heittor 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Goiás had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I watch every Palmeiras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botafogo-PB runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luís Fernandes after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jhon Arias signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Palmeiras will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Aranha 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
Corinthians next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Carlos Miguel 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.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Palmeiras told Erick Belé something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Ramón Sosa’s exile
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Palmeiras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Palmeiras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 7.82 for the rest of it.
Marlon Freitas 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 Fluminense ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Palmeiras equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Alexander Barboza 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Heittor and Palmeiras agree another 5 years.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Luís Fernandes to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Palmeiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Atlético Mineiro the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Palmeiras will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A brace, and Kaio Jorge takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kaio Jorge provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Palmeiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Santa Clara had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Bruno Fuchs’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Palmeiras needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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 Palmeiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Heittor did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Lucas Evangelista 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 Vitória ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Palmeiras equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
12 goals in 25 games at Novorizontino — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Nobody left the Palmeiras 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luís Fernandes after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Koné Mohamed 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 touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaio Jorge signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
7 new faces, and Palmeiras 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Palmeiras $920.0K. Murilo left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
“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.
Bahia pay $4.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Palmeiras 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.
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.
Alexander Barboza 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 20 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Palmeiras. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Palmeiras have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Add another name to the list: Tuna Luso have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Erick Belé. The answer from Palmeiras has not changed — yet.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jhon Arias. 1‑0 against Juventude, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 dugout19 Jul 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.” Luís Fernandes, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Marlon Freitas, marked 7.77, 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.
Palmeiras offered $700.0K; Bahia 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.
“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 Palmeiras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Bruno Fuchs 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aranha and Palmeiras agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
7 new faces, and Palmeiras 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.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Palmeiras people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateus Xavier did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Palmeiras have gone to Bahia 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $135.0K — a club that wants Bruno Ferreira enough to be asked twice.
The offer from Vélez for Alexander Barboza 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.
23 goals in 33 games at Club America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The chase for Paulo Vitor ended with $4.3M changing hands and Atlético Mineiro out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Imperatriz had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Paulo Vitor has, at Palmeiras, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have shaken hands with Atlético Mineiro; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Náutico for Joaquín Piquerez 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Palmeiras 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 Palmeiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luiz Fernando will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Palmeiras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gustavo Gómez'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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Palmeiras people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Add another name to the list: Náutico have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joaquín Piquerez. The answer from Palmeiras has not changed — yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Palmeiras can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mateus Xavier has just signed for Palmeiras, and for once the answer mattered.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.6M — a club that wants Kauã Pascini enough to be asked twice.
Looking aheadThe neighbours are next for Palmeiras
BoardroomNobody left the Palmeiras dressing room in a hurry
45Edition
The Palmeiras Chronicle
7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$16.5M settles it between the clubs for Martinelli
Fluminense have accepted the money. What Palmeiras do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Palmeiras have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Palmeiras have gone to Atlético Mineiro 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ítalo has, at Palmeiras, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
23 goals in 33 games at Club America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 7.98 for the rest of it.
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 Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout31 May 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.” Luís Fernandes, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bruno Fuchs and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 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.
“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 Palmeiras, and 5 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 7.66 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Palmeiras had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luís Fernandes kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rafael Coutinho has his answer from Palmeiras; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luís Fernandes kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sport Recife in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Heittor is on it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Palmeiras know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Palmeiras 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.
“I watch every Palmeiras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Coritiba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Chances created: 9. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Felipe Teresa has agreed terms with Náutico for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Marlon Freitas 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.
“102 caps was 102 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 34 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Palmeiras.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Luís Fernandes could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaio Jorge signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJefté has become a man the manager trusts
Player ratingsThe one thing Kaio Jorge could not do
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Palmeiras
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luís Borges has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rafael Tavares 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. Alex Peixoto 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. Lucas Viana 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 48690. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras 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 Andreas Pereira signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Palmeiras than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Palmeiras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaio Jorge signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Palmeiras would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luciano Acosta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Palmeiras would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Palmeiras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Palmeiras will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Palmeiras would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I watch every Palmeiras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rio Branco runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Palmeiras has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Benedetti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Heittor is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaio Jorge signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
22 goals in 26 games at Club America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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 Palmeiras, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Palmeiras would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Palmeiras know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Benedetti had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
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 Juliano 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 Palmeiras would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Palmeiras have no good answer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Palmeiras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Palmeiras they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
“I watch every Palmeiras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rio Branco runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Fuchs 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Palmeiras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Paulinho was one of the reasons people came, and $12.7M does not replace that by itself.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. André Pereira 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. Paulo Fonseca 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. Showman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Palmeiras will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Palmeiras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Juventus paid $51.9M and Palmeiras took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Palmeiras people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Palmeiras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Vitor Roque has gone, the accounts have $51.9M 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.
17 goals in 22 games at Club America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Alexander Barboza 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 watch every Palmeiras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Coritiba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Palmeiras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
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.
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.
Nobody at Palmeiras 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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Palmeiras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
39 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.
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 Palmeiras have had the benefit of it.
“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 Palmeiras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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 phone has started ringing about Naves again, and this time the name on the line is Londrina. Palmeiras are listening politely and promising nothing.
15 goals in 20 games at Club America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Palmeiras updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Palmeiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Central Córdoba SdE for Luciano Acosta 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.
Palmeiras offered $1.9M; Vasco da Gama 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A 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 Bruno Fuchs has written the date down.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rio Branco waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Palmeiras is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Palmeiras asked and Grêmio 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The fee is $22.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cruzeiro drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Newell's Old Boys paid $9.0M and Palmeiras took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Palmeiras had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kaio Jorge has just signed for Palmeiras, and for once the answer mattered.
$22.0M settles it between the clubs for Kaio Jorge
Cruzeiro have accepted the money. What Palmeiras do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Cruzeiro for Marlon Freitas 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.
$5.8M on the table at Cruzeiro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Palmeiras asked and Botafogo 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 offer went to Fluminense 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Felipe Anderson provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vitor Roque did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Palmeiras and Santos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
São Paulo will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Palmeiras were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
33 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Vitor Roque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.71
A mark of 9.71 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.
Alexander Barboza 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 season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Palmeiras know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. São Paulo tried to reorganise, Palmeiras did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Alexander Barboza 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 Paulinho 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 for Marlon Freitas, marked 7.89, 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.
7.91, 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 Palmeiras 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 Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, José Manuel López on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Palmeiras and Vitória.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vitor Roque 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Palmeiras can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“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.
8.19. 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Palmeiras has been clear about where Murilo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Manuel López. 2‑0 against Bragantino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Alexander Barboza 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 22 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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cruzeiro next, and one man in the Palmeiras dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑2 to Fluminense, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Vitor Roque is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Palmeiras will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Nobody at Palmeiras 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 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jhon Arias decided nobody was going anywhere. Internacional had no time left to answer.
Alexander Barboza 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.
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luís Fernandes kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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 Palmeiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 7.90 for the rest of it.
Gustavo Gómez 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vitor Roque did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Telavi had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Palmeiras can pretend not to have heard.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Palmeiras will try not to make too much of it.
Benedetti 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jhon Arias has come out of that comparison in the side, and Palmeiras have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Vasco da Gama will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Palmeiras were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Palmeiras can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Heittor, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.12
A mark of 8.12 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Palmeiras and Azuriz in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marlon Freitas provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vitor Roque did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The offer from Persik for Benedetti 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 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Palmeiras and Ceará in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. José Manuel López was at the centre of it, Botafogo were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.79, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Vitor Roque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 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.
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 7.69 for the rest of it.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“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 Palmeiras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Figueiredo has agreed terms with Athletic Club for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alexander Barboza 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout10 Aug 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Luís Fernandes to a room that had heard them before.
Nothing signed, nothing denied, and a lot of people suddenly very careful about their wording. Supporters who have been through one of these know the quiet part lasts months.
“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.
He is 21 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.