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 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 dugout11 Mar 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Hervé Michel to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
Benfica next, and one man in the Rio Ave dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Successful dribbles: 10. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
48 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Leiva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. André Lacximicant provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustaf Lagerbielke 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.
Gil Vicente will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Gonçalo Maia has pre-agreed a move to Rio Ave, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Hervé Michel could afford to be generous.
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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Rio Ave asked and Benfica 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Clemente wants continental football; whether Rio Ave 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Hervé Michel to a room that had heard them before.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
2 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.
Out, 0‑0 to Vitoria Guimaraes, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The offer from Feirense for João Monteiro 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.
Rio Ave asked and Farense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wiktor Lenard 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.96 for the rest of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 8 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. Chibudem Favour is living that version at Rio Ave, and it tends to show in the first month.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Carvalheira wants continental football; whether Rio Ave can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Leiva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rafael Carvalheira 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Nacional for André Lacximicant 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.
1 for Brandon Aguilera, marked 7.71, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tiago Moninhas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rio Ave offered $680.0K; Farense 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.
The offer from Benfica for Sandro Vidigal 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Feirense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Farense 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.
“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 Rio Ave know it.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rio Ave can tell you which week it ends in.
Rio Ave asked and Farense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave 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 Sandro Vidigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tiago Moninhas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rio Ave 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.
Something was said to Robin Roefs and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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 1‑3 Hervé Michel left the room before anybody could ask which.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 116th minute. Torreense will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. André Lacximicant provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7.68, 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Brandon Aguilera scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rio Ave can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Rafael Carvalheira 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Hervé Michel to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rio Ave has been clear about where Tiago Moninhas stands, which is more than many ever get.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Brandon Aguilera scored, was marked 7.62, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Rafael Carvalheira 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Federico Coletta 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.
Three points for Rio Ave, 1‑0 the final word against Nacional in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hervé Michel on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Santa Clara had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Rio Ave did not stop to explain themselves.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tiago Moninhas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hervé Michel on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Brandon Aguilera scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Carvalheira wants continental football; whether Rio Ave can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Vidigal 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bartolomé Velásquez has his answer from Rio Ave; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hervé Michel on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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; Rio Ave are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rio Ave has been clear about where Antzelo Sina stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until André Clovis signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Rio Ave 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rio Ave, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Arthur Tchaptchet’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rio Ave needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Tamás Nikitscher has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Rio Ave will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Benfica left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Hervé Michel to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
6 goals in one match, Tiago Moninhas on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rio Ave and Oliveirense.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
1 for Tamás Nikitscher, marked 7.69, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aníbal Paz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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 1‑1 draw with Belenenses leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Hervé Michel chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rafael Carvalheira 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rio Ave can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed André Clovis to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Moreirense, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Hervé Michel chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until André Clovis signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Borja Velázquez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rio Ave 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 Rio Ave 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 Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Moreirense in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 André Lacximicant has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Rio Ave would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rio Ave will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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 Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Hervé Michel left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ceadach O'Neill has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rio Ave have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aníbal Paz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Vidigal 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.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sandro Vidigal 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brandon Aguilera. 1‑0 against Torreense, 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.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
Robin Roefs is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Robin Roefs is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Carvalheira wants continental football; whether Rio Ave can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Vidigal 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; Rio Ave are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paulo Nascimento after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
6 new faces, and Rio Ave 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.
Nobody at Rio Ave 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Pedro Clemente obliged against Marco 09. 5‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Rio Ave.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
37 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rio Ave and Porto in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Pedro Clemente was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.32. 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.
Diogo Bezerra 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 deal that would have taken André Clovis to Belenenses has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rio Ave with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Rio Ave asked and Farense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Rio Ave will try again when the window opens; Moreirense may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Vidigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joaquín Borja Velázquez has his answer from Rio Ave; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Porto.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $316.4K of what Rio Ave paid for João Silva is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Moreirense is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 20 gone
That is the business done at Rio Ave 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.
“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 Rio Ave hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aníbal Paz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Nacional for André Lacximicant 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. André Clovis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rio Ave have gone to Moreirense 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.
Rio Ave have gone to Lusitânia Lourosa 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Borja Velázquez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rio Ave can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Vidigal 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.
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Girona have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 6.71 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave 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.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about André Lacximicant again, and this time the name on the line is Nacional. Rio Ave are listening politely and promising nothing.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jorge Teixeira has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The chase for Eduardo Monteiro ended with $540.0K changing hands and Varzim out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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 Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Gustaf Lagerbielke was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The offer from Fafe for Andreas Ndoj 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.
Varzim have accepted the money. What Rio Ave do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diogo Bezerra 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Carvalheira wants continental football; whether Rio Ave can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedro Amaral is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ayrton Araóz
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rio Ave people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Amarante for Marios Vrousai was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“It was not 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Borja Velázquez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Diogo Bezerra 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 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 Rio Ave know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutSandro Vidigal has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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.
8 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.
Nobody at Rio Ave will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Rio Ave would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rio Ave had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexandre Sousa has agreed terms with São João de Ver for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jorge Teixeira has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The offer from Penafiel for Andreas Ndoj 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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The name of André Clovis has come up in conversations Rio Ave were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Rio Ave have gone to Torreense 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Vidigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Aníbal Paz has agreed terms with Vitoria Guimaraes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Vidigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Tiago Freitas was one of the reasons people came, and $24.9M does not replace that by itself.
$2.3M on the table at Académica. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deal that would have taken João Santos to Académica has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rio Ave with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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 Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Académico de Viseu paid $6.2M and Rio Ave took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antzelo Sina will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rio Ave the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave 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 Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Porto for Sandro Vidigal 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.
$6.3M on the table at Famalicao. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Chamorro again, and this time the name on the line is Maritimo. Rio Ave are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Rio Ave hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer went to Atlético CP 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Guilherme Carvalho has just signed for Rio Ave, and for once the answer mattered.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joaquín Borja Velázquez has agreed terms with Académica for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
17 games and 5 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad28 May 2029
Pedro Amaral 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Guigo has agreed terms with 1º Dezembro for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Pedro Amaral 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rio Ave, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sandro Vidigal signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Rio Ave game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Estrela da Amadora 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and André Lacximicant trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Pedro Amaral 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 watch every Rio Ave game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Plymouth Argyle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sandro Vidigal has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rio Ave have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 André Clovis is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rio Ave, another week without a signature from Jakub Brabec.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sandro Vidigal did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sandro Vidigal 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rio Ave, 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Chamorro, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartolomé Velásquez 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Amaral 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
A brace, and André Clovis takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. André Clovis provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: André Clovis. 2‑1 against Gil Vicente, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Rio Ave, and 9 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutAndré Clovis has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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 Bartolomé Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Estrela da Amadora to sit and watch. I want to come back to Rio Ave and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Rio Ave 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rio Ave, another week without a signature from Jakub Brabec.
2‑0 against Basaksehir, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. André Clovis was at the centre of the description.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 7.22, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sandro Vidigal 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Sandro Vidigal is on it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jorge Teixeira was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Rio Ave dressing room was either.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sporting CP? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“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 Rio Ave, and 9 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Rio Ave can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
0‑2 against Basaksehir. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“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.
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.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: André Lacximicant. 1‑0 against Académico de Viseu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Roland Galčík
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Chamorro, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Jorge Teixeira left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Jakub Brabec trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Pedro Pereira has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Joaquín Borja Velázquez wants continental football; whether Rio Ave can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rodrigo Nascimento and Rio Ave agree another 4 years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Tiago Freitas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rio Ave people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Kevin Chamorro to Vitoria Guimaraes has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rio Ave with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Sandro Vidigal, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21
A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Rio Ave close the window on a squad of their own making
3 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Caldas is saying, and nobody at Rio Ave is enjoying the guessing.
It finished 3‑2, and it was André Clovis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rio Ave.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Jakub Brabec 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sporting CP keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The chase for João Monteiro ended with $150.0K changing hands and Oliveirense out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. João Monteiro is living that version at Rio Ave, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Vidigal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: André Clovis. 1‑0 against Farense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Farense for Kevin Chamorro 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chase for Brayan Benítez ended with $1.4M changing hands and Oliveirense out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Benfica paid $1.1M and Rio Ave took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
$150.0K on the table at Oliveirense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
“I watch every Rio Ave game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Plymouth Argyle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rio Ave can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The offer from Sporting CP for Tiago Freitas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rio Ave have done the hard part with Oliveirense, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.63 for the rest of it.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Feirense were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Vidigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Braga have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The mood at Rio Ave has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Sandro Vidigal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Jakub Brabec 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.
Nacional go through and Rio Ave go home, 0‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rio Ave can tell you which week it ends in.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rio Ave 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aníbal Paz has, at Rio Ave, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Jakub Brabec 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Joaquín Borja Velázquez 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: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Jorge Teixeira left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave 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 Rio Ave heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Jakub Brabec 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.
He is 22 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.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Tiago Freitas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 16 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
Sandro Vidigal 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
“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 Rio Ave, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rio Ave, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tiago Freitas’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rio Ave needing him to play as if none of it matters.
3‑2 against Thun, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Tiago Freitas was at the centre of the description.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Tiago Freitas decided nobody was going anywhere. Thun had no time left to answer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Rio Ave and Sporting CP, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arthur Tchaptchet scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Rafael Lobato 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Arthur Tchaptchet 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bartolomé Velásquez has, at Rio Ave, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rodrigo Leiva 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.
Rafael Lobato 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 Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Rio Ave are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
Roland Galčík 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rio Ave has been clear about where Jalen Blesa stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Rio Ave, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Jorge Teixeira left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Sandro Vidigal is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Something was said to Rafael Lobato and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Lúcio 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.
Alexis Macías 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rio Ave know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Rio Ave would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
1‑2 away to the standard of LASK. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sandro Vidigal did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told André Clovis.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Jakub Brabec 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Éder 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rio Ave, another week without a signature from Rafael Lobato.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Marios Vrousai is on it.
In brief
The dugoutRafael Lobato knocks on the manager’s door
3‑0 against Dinamo Brest, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sandro Vidigal did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tiago Freitas 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Sandro Vidigal in the middle of it, and Dinamo Brest unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
In brief
The dugoutNo place for Jakub Brabec on the big day
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Up for the corner, and Tiago Freitas delivers — 7.89
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tiago Freitas scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
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.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rafael Lobato 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
Nobody at Rio Ave 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until André Clovis signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Farense in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Gustaf Lagerbielke arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 25 gone
That is the business done at Rio Ave 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rio Ave heard it as anything else.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Rio Ave will try again when the window opens; Alverca may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éder 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rio Ave, 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Jakub Brabec 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The deal with Braga is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The offer from Benfica for Rafael Lobato 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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. André Lacximicant provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Ave lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rio Ave people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Up for the corner, and Jakub Brabec delivers — 7.63
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jakub Brabec scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Giorgos Liavas 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.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Rio Ave
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éder 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: Jakub Brabec. 2‑1 against Estoril Praia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tiago Freitas 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rio Ave lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The fee is $3.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sporting da Covilhã drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer from São João de Ver for Nazif Inoussa 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.
Rafael Lobato 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rio Ave, another week without a signature from Rafael Lobato.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Chamorro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Rio Ave and Sporting da Covilhã have settled on $3.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.9M — a club that wants Federico Coletta enough to be asked twice.
Add another name to the list: São João de Ver have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nazif Inoussa. The answer from Rio Ave has not changed — yet.
Dudu has left for Académico de Viseu in a $770.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Jakub Brabec 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rio Ave can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The paperwork is done: João Silva joins from Fafe in a deal worth $440.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éder 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Portimonense have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rio Ave have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Jul 2028
12 new faces, and Rio Ave 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rio Ave have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The chase for André Lacximicant ended with $14.4M changing hands and Estoril Praia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Benfica paid $11.0M and Rio Ave took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ole Pohlmann has gone, the accounts have $11.0M 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rio Ave have done the hard part with Fafe, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The phone has started ringing about Malik Sellouki again, and this time the name on the line is Santa Clara. Rio Ave are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: André Lacximicant from Estoril Praia for $14.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rio Ave have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Rio Ave have gone to Estoril Praia 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giorgos Liavas 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.
Rio Ave asked and Sporting CP said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Rio Ave are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Fafe had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Rio Ave asked and Estoril Praia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jordan Holsgrove was one of the reasons people came, and $13.5M does not replace that by itself.
Rio Ave had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The phone has started ringing about Nazif Inoussa again, and this time the name on the line is Aris. Rio Ave are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
André Luis 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rio Ave 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 Rio Ave, 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Rio Ave asked and Caldas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Jakub Brabec 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
9 new faces, and Rio Ave 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rio Ave, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rio Ave people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of Giorgos Liavas has come up in conversations Rio Ave were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Jordan Holsgrove 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.
Pacos de Ferreira have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The offer from Vizela for Brandon Aguilera was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éder 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 Liavas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rio Ave, another week without a signature from Kevin Chamorro.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Rio Ave have gone to Benfica 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
$3.2M settles it between the clubs for Lazar Carević
Famalicao have accepted the money. What Rio Ave do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rio Ave heard it as anything else.
The name of Brandon Aguilera has come up in conversations Rio Ave were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $19.0M — a club that wants Fiete Arp enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Braga keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jordan Holsgrove and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éder 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave 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 Rio Ave know it.
Squad29 May 2028
7 new faces, and Rio Ave 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rio Ave, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Michael Kelly has just signed for Rio Ave, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Prestianni 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until André Clovis signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Gianluca Prestianni 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.
18 appearances at União de Santarém and the goals have stopped going in. Rio Ave lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rio Ave know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roland Galčík trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Rio Ave would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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 Joy Manana is on it.
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 Rio Ave have no good answer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I 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 Rio Ave know it.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Giorgos Liavas'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rio Ave, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jordan Holsgrove signs something — a contract at Rio Ave or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Tamás Nikitscher is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Rio Ave would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 7 on 45 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 Rio Ave, 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Prestianni 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 8.04 — 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rio Ave they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Giorgos Liavas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Rio Ave, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jordan Holsgrove 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tiago Freitas 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told André Luis.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Jorge Teixeira could afford to be generous.