by Mantas Aliukonis
Panevėžys Ekranas have received a training and development compensation payment for a former player. Last autumn, former Ekranas defensive midfielder Ereku Temitayo from Nigeria signed the first professional contract of his career with Birmingham Legion, a club competing in the USL Championship (the second-highest level of football in the United States after MLS).
His USL debut came on March 9 of last year. He was later loaned out to Forward Madison, who compete one tier lower in USL League One (the third division in the United States), where he made only five appearances. Since this season, the player has been a free agent and currently has no club. Perhaps one of the Lithuanian clubs will take a gamble and invite him back to Lithuania this summer?
The African footballer played in Lithuania during the 2023 and 2024 seasons and managed to appear in 26 matches. Despite playing in a defensive role, he scored five goals. The 22-year-old played his final match in Lithuania on November 2, 2024.
An identical compensation payment (a four-figure sum) was also received by the English side Brooke House Football Academy, which was the player’s first stop abroad.
Strangely enough, while in Lithuania, Ekranas’ African player had numerous dealings with the Migration Department under the Ministry of the Interior. Following issues related to his registration and missed deadlines, Ekranas were effectively placed under restrictions by the department, with the club facing exceptionally tightened procedures when registering players. Have the club’s executives learned from that situation? Or perhaps this is fate’s way of rewarding them for past suffering and misfortune?
In any case, supporters of one of the poorest clubs in Lithuania’s First League can celebrate. The club’s financial budget is not particularly dependent on municipal support, while players reportedly earn very little – most receive between €400 and €800 per month. This naturally raises questions about how the club survives and under what type of employment agreements players are registered in order to save money and avoid the tax burden.
Despite all of the issues listed above, Ekranas supporters can pop the champagne, because this money will most likely secure the club’s existence for another year and ensure that it does not disappear from Lithuania’s valley of tears – otherwise known as Lithuanian football.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza – the inseparable union of the idealist and the materialist. Will Sancho Panza become nobler, more eloquent and wiser thanks to Don Quixote? Time will tell.
Let us hope that certain people will not forget certain things and that, in one form or another, they will repay those who helped Ekranas achieve this and press the buttons that need to be pressed.
For my part, I have no doubt that Ekranas’ management did not actively pursue this player’s contract with the USL club and received this money solely thanks to fate and the efforts of good people.
Speaking about the Ekranas leadership, they have a limited understanding of scouting, engage in paid trials and unusual contracts, and have not fully grasped how the football business operates. Despite the club director’s public promotion campaigns involving well-known personalities, these efforts create neither tangible results nor added value for the club. Money and energy spent on unclear promotional activities could certainly ease the burden on more than one player. Hopefully, the compensation received for developing this player will provide a major boost ahead of the summer transfer window. Hopefully, the players themselves will appreciate it and, during the upcoming transfer window, place the club in a position where it must react to reality.
That is one of the charms of the First League – a sack of money can suddenly fall from the sky on a club when it least expects it. Strange matches also occur in Lithuania’s First League, some of which carry the smell of agreements, manipulation and Arab bookmakers, including incidents in Panevėžys last winter, but more about that in the future.
If you are enjoying Mantas’s interviews and analysis, please consider supporting his other projects here and here, as well as follow him on TikTok
