Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PAOK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Dejan Lovren has agreed terms with Olympiacos for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Anestis Mythou had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Greg Taylor 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexandros Vrousai is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
19 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Jiří Pavlenka has given nobody the chance.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
PAOK close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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 PAOK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Andrija Živković 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 Kristijan Jakić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PAOK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 PAOK, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Panathinaikos for Giannis Michailidis 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.
PAOK asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Getting past Jiří Pavlenka has become the hardest job in the division
17 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Panathinaikos paid $1.4M and PAOK took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PAOK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
Panetolikos did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $5.7M for Kwadwo Opoku, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
$6.2M on the table at Panathinaikos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Anestis Mythou had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
$5.7M settles it between the clubs for Kwadwo Opoku
Panetolikos have accepted the money. What PAOK do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. PAOK had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The name of Baptiste Santamaria has come up in conversations PAOK were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Jakić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dimitris Giannoulis 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Andrija Živković 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 Diego Costa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Eleftherios Karelis on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Diego Costa 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.
“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 PAOK know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. PAOK told Baba Rahman something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Eleftherios Karelis on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PAOK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Jakić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 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 offer from Audax Italiano for Lucas Ruiz 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.
Karol Świderski 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa 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.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon PAOK had all but put away. Olympiacos will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ognjen Ugrešić has come out of that comparison in the side, and PAOK 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PAOK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Costa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dimitris Giannoulis 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.
Olympiacos 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. PAOK told Karol Świderski something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
The dugout30 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.” Eleftherios Karelis kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at PAOK can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Jakić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. PAOK will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PAOK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at PAOK can tell you which week it ends in.
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Andrija Živković was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at PAOK 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PAOK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at PAOK heard it as anything else.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Jakić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Andrija Živković and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad2 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and PAOK 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrija Živković provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; PAOK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Eleftherios Karelis could afford to be generous.
Karol Świderski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Diego Costa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at PAOK 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Baptiste Santamaria provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Jakić 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.
Dimitris Giannoulis 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.
Andrija Živković 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 had been thinking. Diego Costa 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 8.30 — 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.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and PAOK 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Taison has come out of that comparison in the side, and PAOK have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. PAOK scored in the 105th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anestis Mythou did not need any: 8.20, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Costa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrija Živković provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 38, 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 PAOK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Jakić 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 finished 3‑1, and it was Andrija Živković’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to PAOK.
The dugout21 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.” Eleftherios Karelis kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Andrija Živković has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Legia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.98 on the card, and the PAOK support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Eleftherios Karelis, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
João Pedro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Baba Rahman
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
Looking aheadPAOK take on the side everybody is chasing
The dugoutBaba Rahman asks for a word with the manager
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Moha is living that version at PAOK, and it tends to show in the first month.
Andrija Živković 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 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 PAOK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Diego Costa 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. PAOK will try again when the window opens; Panetolikos may not be selling by then.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PAOK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Panathinaikos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vasileios Siovas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikolaos Mavropanos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michalis Papanikolaou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Sparta Prague pay $12.9M, 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Breidablik had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
He is going to Sparta Prague, the club has $12.9M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Ruiz is living that version at PAOK, and it tends to show in the first month.
PAOK offered $760.0K; Estudiantes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa 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.
PAOK have gone to Al-Nassr 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.
PAOK offered $2.6M; Panathinaikos 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.
Christos Zafeiris was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Amine Bassi again, and this time the name on the line is Brondby. PAOK are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Costa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. PAOK will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The shirt still fits. Karol Świderski is back at PAOK, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
PAOK have gone to Panathinaikos 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 went to Aris Thessaloniki 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Apostolos Tsimikas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karol Świderski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Squad10 new faces, and PAOK are still learning each other
The offer from Omonoia for Kiril Despodov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Shahab Zahedi has, at PAOK, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
PAOK asked and Alavés said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at PAOK heard it as anything else.
$420.0K on the table at Estudiantes. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Christos Zafeiris 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Diego Costa 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.