Hello, friends. Let's relax a little: what follows is just a tongue-in-cheek piece about an ordinary day in the life of a Baltika supporter 🙃
In summer a Baltika supporter has two states.
The first - someone is leaving.
The second - nobody is leaving yet, but that's suspicious.
An ordinary day starts at 8:12. You haven't brushed your teeth yet, and Telegram is already reporting:
"A club from the upper half of the RPL table is interested in one of Baltika's leaders."
No name is given.
Nor the name of the club.
The fee is unknown.
Negotiations, possibly, haven't started.
But the mood is already as if the player has said goodbye to the team, moved his things out of Kaliningrad and is right now deleting his photo of the Baltic Sea.
You open the comments.
The first person writes:
That's it, the sell-off has begun.
The second:
For good money you have to let him go.
The third:
What good money? The club's giving everyone away for free again!
Even though nobody yet knows who it's about.
9:00. Borisko is leaving
The next news item:
"Maksim Borisko may continue his career at another club."
In summer the word "may" means nothing at all.
But this time there's a number: a release clause of 180 million. The only concrete thing all morning, so it's repeated with particular pleasure. Someone has already converted the sum into new midfielders.
Ten minutes later Borisko has been sold in people's heads. In the comments they're looking for a new goalkeeper. Someone says Lyubakov will be number one. Someone else says Kukushkin. Someone demands Latyshonok be brought back - that person doesn't yet know that, for the first time in the history of comment sections, he may turn out to be right.
Borisko himself, at this moment, is possibly training in peace.
But those are details.
10:30. Beveev is leaving
Before we've saved the goalkeeper's spot, a new rumour appears.
Now they're interested in Mingiyan Beveev.
A familiar situation. If a footballer plays well for Baltika, after a while somebody else starts being interested in him.
It's a natural process. Like the changing of the seasons.
In spring the footballer helps Baltika.
In summer clubs are interested in him.
In autumn the fans ask why he was sold.
In winter the sporting director explains that the offer was a good one.
Beveev took a long time to reach the RPL; some people managed to retire in the meantime. Now, according to the comments, it's the perfect time to drop everything and leave.
The most convenient thing about transfer rumours is that to sell a player you don't need his consent at all.
12:00. Everyone's taking Gil
By lunchtime Brayan Gil appears.
Or rather, interest in Brayan Gil.
In recent weeks he's been sent to roughly every club that needs a striker. And almost everyone needs a striker.
Various sums are named.
Five million.
Eight million.
Nine.
Ten plus a percentage of the next sale.
The club officially states: nobody's hanging price tags on anyone, agents are sounding out the ground.
By lunchtime the supporter starts sounding out the ground too:
One writes - "We're not letting him go for eight"
Who "we" is remains unknown. He isn't part of the negotiations. He hasn't seen the contract. He doesn't know the agent. But the position is firm:
Nine million plus bonuses. Otherwise he stays.
The sporting director, for some reason, isn't calling at this point.
13:40. Golenkov is coming to Baltika
Finally, some good news.
Baltika is interested in a striker.
Your heart starts beating more evenly.
The surname is familiar. He has RPL experience. A real forward, not a left winger who, with a great deal of wishful thinking, can be stuck up front.
From here the timeline looks like this.
14:15 - "contract agreed".
15:10 - "an agreement is wild fantasy".
Less than an hour between total certainty and total denial. Both stories are about the same man and the same club.
In transfer journalism the word "no" stopped meaning "no" long ago.
Sometimes it means:
not yet;
not quite like that;
not at this stage;
not today;
the source asked us to write "no";
the player really will move, but you found out too early.
After the Shnaptsev saga we're not surprised by anything any more.
Today they write to you: "Nonsense."
Tomorrow: "The parties are close to an agreement."
The day after, the footballer is standing with a Baltika scarf saying he's long dreamed of playing in Kaliningrad.
That's why a normal supporter now asks for clarification:
Is that a final "no" or a transfer "no"?
15:00. A Colombian has been found
After lunch a 22-year-old Colombian enters your life.
You're seeing his surname for the first time.
Five minutes later you're already watching a highlights reel.
Ten minutes later you know he's quick, technical, likes to drift in from the flank and sometimes makes strange decisions.
Fifteen minutes later you're explaining to others why he's a perfect fit for Talalaev's football.
In a four-minute video the Colombian:
beats a defender three times;
hits the top corner twice;
plays a backheel pass;
never loses the ball once.
Obviously the bad moments didn't make the reel.
But now is not the time to think about the bad.
Right now a new star is on his way to Baltika.
An hour later it emerges that a Russian club really is interested in the player. Which one, though, is unknown.
The Colombian slowly leaves Kaliningrad without ever having arrived.
17:30. Someone has followed the club
Towards evening the heavy analytics of social media begin.
An unknown footballer has followed Baltika's account.
Or rather, possibly followed.
The screenshot is blurry.
The account is private.
The surname doesn't fully match.
But the work is already under way.
The fans find his agent, wife, brother, former coach and a photo from an airport three years ago.
In the photo there's a plane.
A plane is serious.
If a footballer posts a plane, that means he's flying somewhere.
And if he's flying somewhere during the transfer window, why not to Khrabrovo?
Two hours later it turns out the photo was taken in Brazil in 2023.
But the news has already spread.
You can't catch it and bring it back.
20:00. Everyone stays
In the evening, calm arrives. The club isn't selling anyone, there are no concrete offers for Gil, Borisko is preparing for the season, Beveev is training, the new striker is being worked on. For the first time all day you can put the phone down, have dinner in peace and remember that the squad, actually, is all in place, and there's still time before the season starts.
At 20:07 a message appears:
"Another RPL club has joined the fight for a Baltika leader."
Which leader?
Not specified.
Which club?
The source asks not to be named.
How serious is the interest?
The situation may become clearer in the near future.
And there you are, sitting with your phone again.
Reading a comment from a man with a wolf avatar who claims that a friend of his works at the airport and saw someone there.
The main thing is to stay calm
Baltika's transfer window isn't the period between seasons.
It's a psychological test.
Of course there will be real transfers. Someone will leave. Someone will arrive. For some players, negotiations really are under way. For some, they never started. And some surnames will disappear as quickly as they appeared.
You just need to remember the main rule of summer:
Until the footballer is standing at the club's training ground with a Baltika scarf, he hasn't moved anywhere.
Although it's probably better to wait for the squad registration for the season.
And the medical.
And the first match.
And the end of the transfer window.
And now, excuse me.
New information has come in.
It seems the interest is concrete.
All the transfer rumours are here - https://t.me/BalticaB
