The phones are still ringing, and that is the whole point
Olympiacos won everything this season. The Euroleague, the Greek Basket League, the Super Cup. A treble. The women's water polo team added a fourth European Champions League title for good measure. The club is not resting. Two football transfer stories are alive right now, both involving players Mendilibar knows intimately, and both signal the same thing: Olympiacos are acting like a club that expects to win again immediately.
Podence: the line is still open
Daniel Podence and Olympiacos remain in contact about a return. Mendilibar is still interested despite being unsatisfied with his performance this season (1). That tension is the story.
When a coach is dissatisfied but still picks up the phone, he is saying the talent outweighs the frustration. Podence at his best gives Olympiacos something no other wide player in the squad offers: dribbling chaos in tight spaces, the ability to break a low block with one sharp turn. He left for Al Shabab and the door never fully closed. At 30, he is not a long-term project, but he is a win-now piece for a team that just won everything and wants to keep winning.
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The open line matters. If the club were moving on, the line would be dead. It is not.
Carmo: the deal taking shape
David Carmo is close to returning, with Porto holding a 10% sell-on clause and Nottingham Forest also in the picture (2) (3) (4) (8). The Portuguese centre-back has an excellent relationship with Mendilibar, and that personal connection is driving the deal forward.
Olympiacos know exactly what they are buying. A left-footed defender who was reliable during his loan spell, physically dominant in the Greek league, and comfortable stepping into midfield. At a reported multi-million figure, this is not a bargain hunt. It is a targeted move to lock down a position that matters in Europe.
The 10% sell-on clause is the detail worth watching. Porto still rate him highly enough to want a piece of his future value. That is not a club offloading dead weight. That is a club protecting upside.
What to watch
The Carmo deal looks the closer of the two. If the reports from Portugal are accurate, Olympiacos and Porto are near agreement, and the player wants the move (4) (8). The Podence situation is more delicate. Mendilibar's dissatisfaction is real, but so is the club's interest. One of these gets done in the coming week. The other simmers. That is how squad-building works at a club that just swept the board: targeted, patient, and never quite done.
