Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Aris Thessaloniki is saying, and nobody at Panathinaikos is enjoying the guessing.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Étienne Camara had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Anass Zaroury has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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 Azzedine Ounahi 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 Panathinaikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sotiris Kontouris had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Pellistri and Panathinaikos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Panathinaikos know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Kostas Kotsaris 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Adriano Jagušić 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panathinaikos has been clear about where Pedro Chirivella stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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 is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Panathinaikos than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Giorgos Katris had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Panathinaikos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 Santino Andino is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Panathinaikos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
Giorgos Kyriakopoulos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Chirivella trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Panathinaikos 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nahuel Ulariaga wants continental football; whether Panathinaikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Panathinaikos asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Fotis Pseftis is in the works
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andreas Makris
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Polissia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Benfica paid $15.4M and Panathinaikos took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sotiris Kontouris had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Iñaki Peña has gone, the accounts have $15.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“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 Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iñaki Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Sotiris Kontouris has come up in conversations Panathinaikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nobody at Panathinaikos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Septemvri had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Léo Gomes 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 Iñaki Peña is on it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Alban Lafont falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adriano Jagušić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 2, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davide Calabria and Panathinaikos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Labros Delibeis is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Giorgos Katris again, and this time the name on the line is Septemvri. Panathinaikos are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Habib Keïta
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Markos Spatharis 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 OFI 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.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Panathinaikos know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Levadiakos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sotiris Kontouris. The answer from Panathinaikos has not changed — yet.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Panathinaikos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alban Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Étienne Camara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Pedro Chirivella has written the date down.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Panathinaikos had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
Giorgos Kyriakopoulos 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 Levi Garcia 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 Panathinaikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Vicente Taborda has written the date down.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Position 2, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Levi Garcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Panathinaikos pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
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 Azzedine Ounahi is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alban Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Étienne Camara’s exile
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
26 appearances at Spartak Subotica and the goals have stopped going in. Panathinaikos lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panathinaikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The coaching staff have set Elmin Rastoder something separate to do. Whether it is a weakness being addressed or a strength being sharpened, nobody outside the building will know until it shows up on a 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.
Nahuel Ulariaga 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 Levi Garcia 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 Panathinaikos, 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.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
In brief
Loan watchMiloš Pantović watches his loan from the bench
Levi Garcia 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 Iñaki Peña is on it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alban Lafont falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panathinaikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Panathinaikos have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panathinaikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Santino Andino and Panathinaikos agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Facundo Pellistri 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 Vicente Taborda is on it.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Santino Andino has moved up it.
26 appearances at Spartak Subotica and the goals have stopped going in. Panathinaikos lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panathinaikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Iñaki Peña’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Levi Garcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alban Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Pellistri signs something — a contract at Panathinaikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alban Lafont trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Léo Gomes 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Panathinaikos know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Panathinaikos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Neman runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stefan de Vrij and Panathinaikos agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nahuel Ulariaga wants continental football; whether Panathinaikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Panathinaikos know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Triantafyllos Tsapras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Panathinaikos 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.
26 appearances at Spartak Subotica and the goals have stopped going in. Panathinaikos lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
7.96, 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.
Levi Garcia 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Asteras scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 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 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adriano Jagušić did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Levi Garcia 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Giorgos Kyriopoulos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Panathinaikos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Azzedine Ounahi 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: 20. 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Panathinaikos had all but put away. Atromitos will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Panathinaikos, and 5 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sotiris Kontouris had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Panathinaikos will try not to make too much of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panathinaikos can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Panathinaikos 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.
Levi Garcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Azzedine Ounahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 2, 48 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Panathinaikos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The chase for Andreas Makris ended with $2.8M changing hands and AEL Larisa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Fiorentina for Pavlos Pantelidis 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Adriano Jagušić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The clubs have shaken hands with AEL Larisa; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Pergolettese for Sotiris Kontouris 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Panathinaikos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Neman runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Viktoria Plzen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Panathinaikos asked and Al-Qadisiyah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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 offer went to Viktoria Plzen 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Andino did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 Panathinaikos have had the benefit of it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Andino did not need any: 8.53, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Panathinaikos and Asteras, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.70, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Azzedine Ounahi provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Kings Kangwa, marked 7.83, 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.
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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Panathinaikos know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 111th minute. Aris Thessaloniki will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Andino did not need any: 8.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Panathinaikos are 2 in the table and the town has noticed
35 points, a place near the top and a ground that has begun to enjoy itself. Nobody will say the word out loud, which is the surest indication that everybody is thinking it.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Santino Andino and Panathinaikos agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Léo Gomes 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 Panathinaikos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Neman 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Nahuel Ulariaga 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.
PAOK held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Panathinaikos answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Panathinaikos, and 5 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Manolis Kourbelis left the room before anybody could ask which.
Panetolikos will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Panathinaikos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.45. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Half the programme played, position 1, 31 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout23 Nov 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.” Manolis Kourbelis kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Habib Keïta has, at Panathinaikos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Levi Garcia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azzedine Ounahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Levi Garcia. 1‑0 against Atromitos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iñaki Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Levi Garcia. 1‑0 against Kifisia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Manolis Kourbelis on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody 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.
1‑4 to Aris Thessaloniki, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Levi Garcia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
9 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Nahuel Ulariaga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.77. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iñaki Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Léo Gomes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 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.” Manolis Kourbelis kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iñaki Peña 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 Panathinaikos 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 Azzedine Ounahi is on it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Elmin Rastoder'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.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Manolis Kourbelis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Panathinaikos dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutLéo Gomes dropped after a run of poor form
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Some 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.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Panathinaikos support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Match10 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Panathinaikos. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Nahuel Ulariaga 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Olympiacos on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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
SquadPanathinaikos are still strangers to each other
Squad4 Panathinaikos players away with their countries
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Santino Andino, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 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.
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.
Levi Garcia 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 Iñaki Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. AEK on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Panathinaikos will try not to make too much of it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Panathinaikos and Panserraikos, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Iñaki Peña falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Christos Kryparakos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Andino did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Azzedine Ounahi 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The name of Sotiris Kontouris has come up in conversations Panathinaikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panathinaikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Levi Garcia 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Iñaki Peña falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Panathinaikos will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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 Panathinaikos, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pavlos Pantelidis had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Sotiris Kontouris to Volos NPS has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Panathinaikos with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Iñaki Peña falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Panathinaikos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Levi Garcia. 1‑0 against OFI, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The phone has started ringing about Pavlos Pantelidis again, and this time the name on the line is Austria Wien. Panathinaikos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Panathinaikos
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fotios Karelis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Lucas Chaves 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panathinaikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sotiris Kontouris had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Pavlos Pantelidis again, and this time the name on the line is PAOK. Panathinaikos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iñaki Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PAOK next, and one man in the Panathinaikos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Panathinaikos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Rotor had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Panathinaikos asked and Aris Thessaloniki said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Levi Garcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Iñaki Peña falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Nahuel Ulariaga comes from Godoy Cruz for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Panathinaikos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Barcelona 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 offer from Panserraikos for Pavlos Pantelidis 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 name of Karol Świderski has come up in conversations Panathinaikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Azzedine Ounahi and Panathinaikos agree another 4 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Panathinaikos go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Evangelos Papastathopulos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer went to Godoy Cruz 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Iñaki Peña falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Add another name to the list: Dinamo Minsk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Étienne Camara. The answer from Panathinaikos has not changed — yet.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.