“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Moscow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Vologda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The fee is $2.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dinamo Moscow drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Torpedo Moscow asked and Zugdidi 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mario Ćurić 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.
Torpedo Moscow had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiv Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Moscow have done the hard part with Dinamo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Torpedo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from AS Trencin for Ilja Berkovskiy 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.
$2.8M on the table at Dinamo Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Tsypchenko 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 phone has started ringing about Ivan Gulko again, and this time the name on the line is Jihlava. Torpedo Moscow 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The offer from Hapoel Acre for Ivan Gulko 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Moscow 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 Mario Ćurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.58. 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.
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 Vladislav Shitov.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Viktor Sedov on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Lokomotiv for Alexey Kashtanov 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.
Mario Ćurić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I 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 Torpedo Moscow 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lev Nazarov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ruslan Apekov. 1‑0 against Ufa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergey Borodin and Torpedo Moscow agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Torpedo Moscow can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Tsypchenko 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
1 for Mario Ćurić, marked 7.97, 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.
Rostislav Soldatenko 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Ćurić 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Viktor Sedov, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Moscow told Sergey Borodin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Moscow 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 Torpedo Moscow 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 Mario Ćurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.14. 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.
Something was said to Jonathan Okoronkwo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mario Ćurić 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yefrem Pyankov 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. Tikhon Chesnokov 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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Moscow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Rostislav Soldatenko 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 Dec 2026
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Ćurić 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.
8.25. 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
4‑5 against Dinamo Makhachkala, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ivan Gulko takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Gulko provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mario Ćurić 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.
9 goals in one match, Ivan Gulko on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Torpedo Moscow and Dinamo Makhachkala.
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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Ćurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
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 Moscow 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Makar Pronin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Rostislav Soldatenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Torpedo Moscow can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending 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.
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.
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 Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mario Ćurić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Tsypchenko 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.
Mario Ćurić 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.
Ural next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktor Sedov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Position 3, 22 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.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Tsypchenko 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 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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.” Viktor Sedov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Torpedo Moscow has been clear about where Mikhail Volkov stands, which is more than many ever get.
4 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.
Rostislav Soldatenko 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mario Ćurić 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Gulko 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladislav Shitov provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mario Ćurić 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Vladislav Shitov has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Bojan Roganović
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Mario Ćurić 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 Dmitry Tsypchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Viktor Sedov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Torpedo Moscow close the window on a squad of their own making
21 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.
Rostislav Soldatenko 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mario Ćurić 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.
Torpedo Moscow asked and Fenerbahce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Tsypchenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Alexandr Yushin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Torpedo Moscow.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Tsypchenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 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.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Torpedo Moscow will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Mario Ćurić 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ben Thys is living that version at Torpedo Moscow, and it tends to show in the first month.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Dmitry Tsypchenko has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Torpedo Moscow.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ruslan Apekov 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Vladislav Shitov had Torpedo Moscow level again within 2 minutes, and Rotor never got to play with a lead at all.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Louis Bracke has just signed for Torpedo Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Ćurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Louis Bracke and Torpedo Moscow agree another 4 years.
He is 20, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“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.
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 Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Tsypchenko 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.
Boca Juniors 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Mario Ćurić 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. Besiktas have kept their man, and Torpedo Moscow 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: Vladislav Shitov. 2‑0 against Sokol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Add another name to the list: FK Senica have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mikhail Volkov. The answer from Torpedo Moscow has not changed — yet.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arseny Zuev 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. Nikita Rumyantsev 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. Nikita Nikolayev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
8.18. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Yushin provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Rostislav Soldatenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Gulko has, at Torpedo Moscow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Ćurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 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.