Valletta U20

29 Nov 2026
Sunday
Process
17 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Neil Micallef keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valletta may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Maringá stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Jackson Mendoza goes up and wins it — 7.77

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 7.77 for the rest of it.

Match

The wait goes on for Valletta

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Player ratings

Roko Prša beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.84 on the card, and the Valletta support went home talking about one name.

Loan watch

Jake Azzopardi counts the days

“I watch every Valletta game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Floriana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

Back issues
16 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jackson Mendoza puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Roko Prša runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Julian Debattista was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Valletta dressing room was either.

Match

No goals between Valletta and Sliema Wanderers

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Sliema Wanderers will be the happier side with the point.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Thaylor

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hibernians in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

Neil Micallef knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valletta, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Alex Tanque story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Tanque signs something — a contract at Valletta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

15 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Match

Mosta take the points off Valletta

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Maringá gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Roko Prša

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Halfway: Valletta sit in position 8

12 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Squad

Bjorn Camilleri signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bjorn Camilleri and Valletta agree another 3 years.

The dugout

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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Julian Debattista to a room that had heard them before.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for Valletta

Sliema Wanderers top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

Squad

The first one for Bruno Gomes

Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Valletta have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.

In brief

14 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Shaft Brewer

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Alfie Tuck and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 129% of the Valletta income

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.

Squad

James Grech stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” James Grech and Valletta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Manuel Morello makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yannick Yankam

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Julian Debattista on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Bruno Gomes

Nobody at Valletta is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.

In brief

13 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Alfie Tuck 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.

Market

One of our own: Frank Tabone joins the Valletta first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Frank Tabone is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Bjorn Camilleri joins the Valletta first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bjorn Camilleri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Valletta promote Samuel Agius from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuel Agius 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.

Market

Jonathan Debono steps up from the Valletta academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jonathan Debono 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.

Match

Valletta see off Gzira United

Three points for Valletta, 1‑0 the final word against Gzira United in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Roko Prša was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.09. 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

12 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Jackson Mendoza hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende 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.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Loan watch

Jake Azzopardi counts the days

“I watch every Valletta game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Floriana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

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.” Julian Debattista chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Squad

A Valletta teenager takes the young player award

Alfie Tuck is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.

Match

Valletta and Hamrun Spartans cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Hamrun Spartans came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

The dugout

Daniel Fenech gets it from the manager

“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.

Looking ahead

Jackson Mendoza faces his old club

Gzira United next, and one man in the Valletta dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

11 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Alfie Tuck delivers — 7.38

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alfie Tuck scored, was marked 7.38, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer was unplayable

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.

Squad

Valletta lose Bruno Gomes

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Match

A bad afternoon for Valletta against Naxxar Lions

1‑2 to Naxxar Lions, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Maringá gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Ryan Scicluna signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ryan Scicluna commits to Valletta for another 1 years.

Squad

Neil Micallef 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.

Loan watch

Andrea Zammit has seen enough of Floriana

“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 Valletta, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

10 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Valletta leave it late against Birkirkara

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Birkirkara spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Squad

Maringá stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 165% of everything Valletta earn

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.

Match

Alex Tanque the difference as Valletta beat Birkirkara

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Tanque. 1‑0 against Birkirkara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

One of those days for Alex Tanque

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Neil Micallef 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Valletta

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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Matteo Grech at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Grech is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

The dugout

Thaylor gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Julian Debattista on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Julian Debattista after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Match

Valletta and Tarxien Rainbows cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Tarxien Rainbows came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Looking ahead

Sebastián Viveros faces his old club

Birkirkara next, and one man in the Valletta dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

The dugout

Neil Micallef knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valletta, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Player ratings

Sebastián Viveros runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

No place in the plan for Yannick Yankam

The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

8 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Shaft Brewer

Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Zabbar St. Patrick take the points off Valletta

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neil Micallef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Julian Debattista faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julian Debattista after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Andrew Tutte gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Young player of the week: Patrick Busuttil

At 16 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.

Squad

Anton Micallef, 16, gets his chance

Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Yannick Yankam

Nobody at Valletta is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.

In brief

7 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Valletta win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Floriana will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Squad

Valletta count the cost of losing Bruno Gomes

44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Valletta see off Floriana

Three points for Valletta, 2‑1 the final word against Floriana in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Alfie Tuck in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Alex Tanque in the eights

A performance of 8.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Loan watch

Jake Azzopardi wants to come home

“I did not go to Floriana to sit and watch. I want to come back to Valletta and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Julian Debattista: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

6 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 18 in, 3 out at Valletta

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Matthew Guillaumier

Valletta asked and Hamrun Spartans said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Alfie Tuck and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Hibernians take the points off Valletta

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Valletta

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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Julian Debattista to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

Alfie Tuck is a square peg at Valletta

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.

In brief

5 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 34. 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.

Squad

Maringá keeps Valletta in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Ryan Andrews arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ryan Andrews has, at Valletta, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Match

Valletta come up short against Sliema Wanderers

Sliema Wanderers left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende 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 dugout

Maringá gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

Eyes on Andrea Zammit again

The phone has started ringing about Andrea Zammit again, and this time the name on the line is Floriana. Valletta are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

200 appearances for Maringá

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

Julian Debattista faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julian Debattista after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

4 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende 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.

Squad

Daniel Fenech signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Fenech and Valletta agree another 3 years.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Roko Prša

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sliema Wanderers in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Daniel Fenech

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Somebody is after Manuel Morello’s shirt

A new face in his position, and Manuel Morello suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Valletta have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.

In brief

3 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Transfer targets

Valletta rebuffed over Neill Byrne

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bradford City have kept their man, and Valletta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Still no ink between Valletta and Sebastián Viveros

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Valletta, another week without a signature from Sebastián Viveros.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Alfie Tuck is in the works

Valletta have made the call to Queens Park Rangers. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Squad

Ryan Scicluna signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ryan Scicluna commits to Valletta for another 1 years.

In brief

2 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gabriel Mentz

Valletta asked and Gzira United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Valletta sell Julani Archibald for $9.0K

Julani Archibald has left for Birkirkara in a $9.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Patrick Calleja steps up from the Valletta academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Patrick Calleja 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.

Market

One of our own: James Grech joins the Valletta first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. James Grech is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Luca Scicluna joins the Valletta first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luca Scicluna is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

1 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Julani Archibald puts it in writing

“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 Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Roko Prša signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roko Prša and Valletta agree another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Valletta rebuffed over Cristian Núñez

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huracán have kept their man, and Valletta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Hibernians watching Julani Archibald

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Valletta have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief