Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Milan Majstorović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Mignolet 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.” Giorgi Kokhreidze has his answer from Torpedo Kutaisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Emre Demir is on it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Kljajić and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nodar Lominadze 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 Milan Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Torpedo Kutaisi who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
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 Milan Majstorović is on it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 65 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Naj Lulić provided it, and the 8.98 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 Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yannick Mignolet did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nodar Lominadze scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Mignolet 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Caio Wesley did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Emre Demir 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.
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.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Caio Wesley did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matej Šimić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Nodar Lominadze 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 Milan Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Kaizer Chiefs said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Torpedo Kutaisi until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Milan Majstorović 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.
The match ball belongs to Yannick Mignolet, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Yannick Mignolet, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Torpedo Kutaisi and Zugdidi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Kutaisi have done the hard part with FC Augsburg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Milan Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8.04. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Nodar Lominadze at his very best
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Fernando Silva
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matej Šimić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is enjoying the guessing.
Milan Majstorović 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.
Zugdidi paid $160.0K and Torpedo Kutaisi took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yannick Mignolet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Milan Majstorović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Mignolet 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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 Beka Kakabadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
The deal with Andorra 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 easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Kharebashvili and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than 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.
Bruninho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Torpedo Kutaisi will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Torpedo Kutaisi and a proper look at me.” He remains Dila’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dinamo Tbilisi drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.6M for Giorgi Kharebashvili, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milan Majstorović 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.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$1.6M on the table at Dinamo Tbilisi. 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Genk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nodar Lominadze 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 Felipe Pires 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. Lech have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Dinamo Tbilisi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Racing Genk 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.
Felipe Pires 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.
Dinamo Batumi pay $480.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
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.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Naj Lulić provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 38 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Torpedo Kutaisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Pires 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 9.66 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Pires 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. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Giorgi Arabidze has gone, the accounts have $3.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Saburtalo paid $3.4M and Torpedo Kutaisi 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. Diego Deisadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nodar Lominadze 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 had been thinking. Milan Majstorović 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Pires was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Kolkheti said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 9.02 — 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Saburtalo will make the call about Mateo Itrak this week. Torpedo Kutaisi have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 3, 29 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Felipe Pires 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Bratislava have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mateo Itrak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 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 7.84 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torpedo Kutaisi and Guria in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.68 — 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 9.17 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Stamatov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Nodar Lominadze 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 Felipe Pires was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Deisadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Pires is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Torpedo Kutaisi has been clear about where Matej Šimić stands, which is more than many ever get.
1 for Nodar Lominadze, marked 7.62, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Stamatov 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 8.14 — 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 goal that put Merani ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Torpedo Kutaisi equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Marked 7.13 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
7.87, 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad3 May 2027
Komnen Andrić 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.
Mateo Itrak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 14 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Komnen Andrić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Beka Kakabadze to a room that had heard them 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.
Saburtalo next, and one man in the Torpedo Kutaisi dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Kutaisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Stamatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Komnen Andrić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dato Gvelesiani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Irakli Okriashvili has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and 0 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Stamatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marios Pourzitidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A mark of 8.22 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Vladimer Mamuchashvili scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nodar Lominadze scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Deisadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Felipe Pires 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 Komnen Andrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Giorgi Gvasalia did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Komnen Andrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Giorgi Gvasalia has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Kljajić and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Sekou Diawara 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.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dinamo Batumi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Torpedo Kutaisi had all but put away. Dinamo Batumi will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Komnen Andrić 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 Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giorgi Arabidze has his answer from Torpedo Kutaisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Batumi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Torpedo Kutaisi would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Dija Baiano 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgi Arabidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Dinamo Batumi
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nodar Lominadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Torpedo Kutaisi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mateo Itrak signs something — a contract at Torpedo Kutaisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Torpedo Kutaisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Utrecht, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Utrecht 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Komnen Andrić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SC Freiburg have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Irakli Gvelesiani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Beka Janelidze has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
In brief
The dugoutMateo Itrak knocks on the manager's door
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Saburtalo moved on, Giorgi Arabidze reports back to Torpedo Kutaisi, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Felipe Pires and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bucharest have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Stamatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Torpedo Kutaisi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arbion Megjidi has just signed for Torpedo Kutaisi, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Stamatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dinamo Bucharest 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The bid was some way short and Torpedo Kutaisi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Komnen Andrić 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 loan enquiry to Dinamo Tbilisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Torpedo Kutaisi are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chikhura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal that would have taken Dato Bukia to Dila has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Torpedo Kutaisi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Komnen Andrić 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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Lokomotivi for Giorgi Arabidze 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.
Nodar Lominadze 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 phone has started ringing about Diego Deisadze again, and this time the name on the line is Chikhura. Torpedo Kutaisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Tskhinvali said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dinamo Tbilisi 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kisley Zita 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.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nodar Lominadze 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 had been thinking. Komnen Andrić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Šimić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Komnen Andrić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Torpedo Kutaisi will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Latsabidze has become a man the manager trusts
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nodar Lominadze signs something — a contract at Torpedo Kutaisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Komnen Andrić 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.
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 Mohamed Cherif is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mateo Itrak has written the date down.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Demetre Buliskeria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nodar Lominadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and 2 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sori Mané
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nodar Lominadze 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Vakhtang Qazaishvili has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Šimić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 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 Mateo Itrak has written the date down.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Torpedo Kutaisi than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I watch every Torpedo Kutaisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zugdidi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Nodar Lominadze signs something — a contract at Torpedo Kutaisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Warley has written the date down.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Vladimer Mamuchashvili plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Nodar Lominadze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Levan Kiteishvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksandre Daraselia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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 Giorgi Arabidze is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Kutaisi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Torpedo Kutaisi the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nodar Lominadze 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Torpedo Kutaisi have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Felipe Pires
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Felipe Pires has come out of that comparison in the side, and Torpedo Kutaisi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Kutaisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dato Bukia has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutOto Goshadze asks for a word with the manager
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oto Goshadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.55. 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Komnen Andrić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.48. 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Felipe Pires was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
10 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Vladimer Mamuchashvili scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
7.64, 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Oto Goshadze 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Sioni said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tornike Okriashvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Beka Kobiashvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Sekou Diawara scored in the 87th minute, Chikhura had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Torpedo Kutaisi took the lot.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Sekou Diawara takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sekou Diawara provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Benfica is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is enjoying the guessing.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Merani 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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zugdidi kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Torpedo Kutaisi will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nodar Lominadze scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Kutaisi have done the hard part with Benfica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and San Martín 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nodar Lominadze scored, was marked 7.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Torpedo Kutaisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ajax Cape Town, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nika Chakvetadze reports back to Torpedo Kutaisi with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Komnen Andrić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.28 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Kutaisi have done the hard part with Dinamo Tbilisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Torpedo Kutaisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Torpedo Kutaisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dukla Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Demetre Buliskeria 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nodar Lominadze and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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. Guria have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dato Mikautadze has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Komnen Andrić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basaksehir have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Torpedo Kutaisi 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.