From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Nov 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Danil Prutsev 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 watch1 Nov 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“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 Zalgiris know it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Oct 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Prutsev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Zalgiris are still strangers to each other
6 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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 Ognjen Ugrešić is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Oct 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Match18 Oct 2027
The view from the top for Zalgiris
40 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market18 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Stipe Perica 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Grigore Turda falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Danil Prutsev 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Bryan Teixeira has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Oct 2027
14 days out for Marat Tlekhugov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Danil Prutsev 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
60 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Zalgiris release $787.3K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Marat Tlekhugov out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigore Turda 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Zalgiris are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Sep 2027
First, on 40 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Marat Tlekhugov out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Grigore Turda: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market20 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Danil Prutsev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 Paulius Golubickas is on it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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. Zalgiris will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market20 Sep 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Fiodor Dubickas arrives at Zalgiris with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Marat Tlekhugov out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Sep 2027
Kajus Bička 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Danil Prutsev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giedrius Matulevičius, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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 Bryan Teixeira is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2027
43 days out for Marat Tlekhugov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Zalgiris 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The fee is $450.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Suduva drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Otis Caporusso is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Axel Batista deal
Zalgiris ran out of time with Quilmes. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Ognjen Ugrešić 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stipe Perica and Zalgiris agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Marat Tlekhugov out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Aug 2027
Stipe Perica arrives at Zalgiris in a $600.0K statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Zalgiris have paid $600.0K for Stipe Perica, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The deal with Stade Lavallois 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kajus Bička has agreed terms with Kauno Zalgiris for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Prutsev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aston Villa have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
5 new faces, and Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
19 days out for Edgaras Dubickas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match23 Aug 2027
40 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Zalgiris had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ismaily, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Petković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Neftchi 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Prutsev 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 targets23 Aug 2027
A loan move for Otis Caporusso is in the works
Zalgiris have made the call to Stade Lavallois. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Zalgiris have gone to Ismaily with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Southampton keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rotor have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Trakai wanted more than $120.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Bryan Teixeira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Bryan Teixeira has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zurich is saying, and nobody at Zalgiris is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Prutsev 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikola Petković commits to Zalgiris for another 3 years.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Aug 2027
The chase for Marat Tlekhugov ended with $840.0K changing hands and Yenisey out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zalgiris have done the hard part with Zurich, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utenis have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Prutsev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Nikola Petković again, and this time the name on the line is Utenis. Zalgiris are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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 Zalgiris will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Jul 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Bryan Teixeira
29 goals and a season average of 8.01 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match21 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Zalgiris
The unbeaten run reaches 16. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad26 Jul 2027
52 days out for Edgaras Dubickas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Jul 2027
Cup progress for Zalgiris
A 4‑2 win over Siauliai, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match26 Jul 2027
The view from the top for Zalgiris
40 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.82, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zalgiris may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$840.0K settles it between the clubs for Marat Tlekhugov
Yenisey have accepted the money. What Zalgiris do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Edgaras Dubickas out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Zalgiris had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atromitos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Zalgiris asked and Kauno Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Prutsev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yuriy Kendysh, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Danil Prutsev has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Zalgiris know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan move for Maxim Saveljev is in the works
Zalgiris have made the call to Baltika. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Yuriy Kendysh: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Spartak Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Teixeira 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 targets12 Jul 2027
Zalgiris asked and Palermo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch12 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Suduva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zalgiris and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Baltika were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Rokas Klimavicius 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 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Teixeira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Grigore Turda, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
AEK 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Zalgiris academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
81 days out for Edgaras Dubickas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match28 Jun 2027
First, on 40 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market28 Jun 2027
Kajus Bička 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The offer went to Baltika 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Grigore Turda 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 targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ovidijus Verbickas has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zalgiris.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sparta Prague is saying, and nobody at Zalgiris is enjoying the guessing.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Dominik Franke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Teixeira 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 targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ovidijus Verbickas, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Ternana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan move for Adam Ševínský is in the works
Zalgiris have made the call to Sparta Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Zalgiris have let the market know Ovidijus Verbickas can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Teixeira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Zalgiris asked and Krylya Sovetov 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Krylya Sovetov 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Sparta Prague: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
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 Paulius Golubickas is on it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Rokas Klimavicius has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Market14 Jun 2027
Zalgiris have made Yuriy Kendysh available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Jun 2027
The match ball belongs to Rokas Klimavicius, whose 6 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Bryan Teixeira
29 goals and a season average of 8.01 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match5 Jun 2027
10‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match5 Jun 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Zalgiris did not have in the autumn.
Match7 Jun 2027
Zalgiris finish in position 1
40 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad7 Jun 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match5 Jun 2027
Zalgiris keep winning on the road
7 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
26 goals and a season average of 7.93. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match29 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Zalgiris
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match31 May 2027
The view from the top for Zalgiris
37 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Match29 May 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Dominik Franke 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Appearance number 400 for Liviu Antal
400 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match29 May 2027
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 May 2027
Zalgiris cannot stop winning
13 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.
Squad24 May 2027
25 goals and a season average of 7.93. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match22 May 2027
Atlantas will want this one forgotten quickly: 9‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zalgiris were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad24 May 2027
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad24 May 2027
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match22 May 2027
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Zalgiris. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings24 May 2027
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 7.98 for the rest of it.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Dominik Franke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Bryan Teixeira at his very best
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zalgiris.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match15 May 2027
Zalgiris cannot stop winning
12 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A season average of 7.84 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match15 May 2027
4‑0, and Bryan Teixeira took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zalgiris tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad17 May 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market17 May 2027
Marko Capan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
Match15 May 2027
Siauliai blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Siauliai tried to reorganise, Zalgiris did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Zalgiris right now
11 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.
Match8 May 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Trakai, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 May 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.98, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A brace, and Rokas Klimavicius takes the afternoon — 9.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rokas Klimavicius provided it, and the 9.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 May 2027
18 goals and a season average of 7.74. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Ivan Lytvynenko pops up at the right end — 7.99
7.99, 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.
Match8 May 2027
Zalgiris are at home on the road
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad10 May 2027
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Match8 May 2027
Bryan Teixeira among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Bryan Teixeira on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zalgiris and Trakai.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 May 2027
Zalgiris make it 10 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zalgiris have 10 straight wins of it.
Match3 May 2027
27 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A brace, and Bryan Teixeira takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bryan Teixeira provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad3 May 2027
16 goals and a season average of 7.63. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
Match1 May 2027
Three points for Zalgiris, 2‑0 the final word against Kauno Zalgiris in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Grigore Turda, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Nemanja Mihajlović
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nemanja Mihajlović has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zalgiris have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play Zalgiris right now
9 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The match ball belongs to Bryan Teixeira, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.56 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Apr 2027
Zalgiris keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.56 — 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.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2027
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play Zalgiris right now
8 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Utenis, and it could have been more.
Squad19 Apr 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market19 Apr 2027
Marko Capan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.44 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Dominik Franke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.71, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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 ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Apr 2027
Zalgiris cannot stop winning
7 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Apr 2027
Three points for Zalgiris, 3‑1 the final word against Suduva in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.34 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match10 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Zalgiris. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Justas Vaitkunas 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Apr 2027
7‑1, and Bryan Teixeira took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zalgiris tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad5 Apr 2027
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match31 Mar 2027
Zalgiris march on in the cup
Utenis are out and Zalgiris go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Saulius Jankauskas could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.90
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.90, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A brace, and Rokas Klimavicius takes the afternoon — 9.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rokas Klimavicius provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match5 Apr 2027
15 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match3 Apr 2027
Zalgiris make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zalgiris have 6 straight wins of it.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad29 Mar 2027
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match27 Mar 2027
4‑0, and Rokas Klimavicius took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zalgiris tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match27 Mar 2027
Nobody wants to play Zalgiris right now
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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Étienne Camara pops up at the right end — 7.99
7.99, 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Bryan Teixeira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Rokas Klimavicius was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.59. 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad22 Mar 2027
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Mar 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Étienne Camara: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Rokas Klimavicius takes the afternoon — 9.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rokas Klimavicius provided it, and the 9.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Mar 2027
Nobody wants to play Zalgiris right now
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Teixeira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Mar 2027
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Bryan Teixeira takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bryan Teixeira provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Étienne Camara 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Bryan Teixeira’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zalgiris.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yuriy Kendysh, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Donatas Barauskas on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Zalgiris have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Mar 2027
3‑0, and Rokas Klimavicius took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zalgiris tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The match ball belongs to Rokas Klimavicius, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Age has not caught Liviu Antal yet — 7.88
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market8 Mar 2027
Solomon Obed 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dušan Puletić and Zalgiris agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Dominik Franke 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 ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 9.42 — 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Modestas Simkus is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Stumbras next, and one man in the Zalgiris dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Martynas Šetkus has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Armandas Kučys 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Teixeira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Zalgiris asked and Kauno Zalgiris 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Kajus Bička
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Feb 2027
Solomon Obed 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Armandas Kučys and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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 targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marius Lasickas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dušan Puletić, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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 Zalgiris know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Zalgiris close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Trakai, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Armandas Kučys 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Zalgiris asked and Zira 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Armandas Kučys
“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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zalgiris have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Slovan Bratislava: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Petković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Armandas Kučys has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Dominik Franke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Zalgiris asked and Baltika 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Dominik Franke
“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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Spartak Moscow 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Zalgiris are still strangers to each other
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
This league is too small for Armandas Kučys
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. Zalgiris will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zalgiris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Rokas Klimavicius ended with $1.0M changing hands and Trakai out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with NK Celje 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
No thanks: Arjan Malić rejects the move
Zalgiris had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Red Bull Salzburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira 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 terraces18 Jan 2027
The town asked, and Zalgiris paid $1.0M
Rokas Klimavicius was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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 targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Marko Capan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$1.0M settles it between the clubs for Rokas Klimavicius
Trakai have accepted the money. What Zalgiris do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market11 Jan 2027
Solomon Obed 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 Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
Stumbras come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zalgiris did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Zalgiris had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rodina, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bryan Teixeira 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Zalgiris asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Marko Capan has come up in conversations Zalgiris were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giedrius Matulevičius commits to Zalgiris for another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Kerfala Cissoko is in the works
Zalgiris have made the call to Rodina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Red Bull Salzburg 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Atromitos: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Kajus Bička
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sofiane Bachiri and Zalgiris agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Kajus Bička and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Marko Capan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Solomon Obed gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Solomon Obed has just signed for Zalgiris, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Teixeira 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Carlos Olses 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 Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
Marko Capan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Dominik Franke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Petar Bosančić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petar Bosančić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajus Bička was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bryan Teixeira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Étienne Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gustas Jarusevičius will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Deividas Novikovas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustas Jarusevičius, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
Marko Capan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Zalgiris will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Petar Bosančić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petar Bosančić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Étienne Camara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Ivan Lytvynenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Marko Capan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Petar Bosančić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Petar Bosančić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Carlos Olses and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Étienne Camara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nobody at Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tadas Dapkus 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lukas Lasickas 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kajus Bička falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Martynas Šetkus is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Marko Capan
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Capan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
Petar Bosančić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Étienne Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bryan Teixeira 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajus Bička 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Zalgiris asked and Carrarese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karolis Vaitkunas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustas Jarusevičius, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Zalgiris. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes Dušan Puletić a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Petar Bosančić asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market14 Sep 2026
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Zalgiris could get for him.
Market14 Sep 2026
Zalgiris spent the window trying to move Petar Bosančić on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Utenis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zalgiris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Zalgiris 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Zalgiris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Étienne Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nasaf have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Ivan Lytvynenko 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 Sep 2026
Grigore Turda slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Grigore Turda is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Zalgiris are still strangers to each other
12 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Petar Bosančić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petar Bosančić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sint-Truiden is saying, and nobody at Zalgiris is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Grigore Turda 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Zalgiris asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zalgiris have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Carrarese 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Zalgiris bow out of the cup
Kauno Zalgiris go through and Zalgiris go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Chamois Niortais is saying, and nobody at Zalgiris is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dominik Franke 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigore Turda 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Suduva have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 Donatas Barauskas to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Legia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sint-Truiden 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Zalgiris march on in the cup
Utenis are out and Zalgiris go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Paulius Golubickas takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Paulius Golubickas provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.78 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market17 Aug 2026
Zalgiris say no — this time
The offer from Stumbras for Gustas Jarusevičius 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zalgiris have done the hard part with Panathinaikos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zalgiris had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Central Espanol, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Zalgiris 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gustas Jarusevičius 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paulius Golubickas commits to Zalgiris for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paulius Jankauskas 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Darius Barauskas 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edgaras Simkus is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lukas Slavickas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bryan Teixeira commits to Zalgiris for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Bryan Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigore Turda 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 targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zalgiris know which stage they are at.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Ivan Lytvynenko’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Zalgiris have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Petar Bosančić has his answer from Zalgiris; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulius Golubickas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.