Marked for Dramane Kamagaté
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout15 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oussama Benbout 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.
Match13 Nov 2027
A 1‑0 win over CR Belouizdad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Nov 2027
25 games in 226 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nassim Medjani and USM Alger agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout15 Nov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” USM Alger may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Che Malone and USM Alger agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oussama Benbout 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
MC Oran made USM Alger work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Che Malone
“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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.97 on the card, and the USM Alger support went home talking about one name.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Yacine Aliane named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yacine Aliane is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” USM Alger have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oussama Benbout 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.
Loan watch25 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 USM Alger, and 3 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Hicham Medjani chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Haithem Loucif dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The formation has left Mohamed Touat behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. USM Alger will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Match23 Oct 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. JS Saoura defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout25 Oct 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
Match16 Oct 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against MB Rouissat, and it could have been more.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” USM Alger have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Oct 2027
Nobody wants to play USM Alger 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market18 Oct 2027
As if he never left: Mohamed Touat returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Mohamed Touat is a USM Alger player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oussama Benbout 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 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.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rayane Abdelmadjid Mahrouz has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Oct 2027
USM Alger through in the cup
A 3‑1 win over USM Khenchela, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match9 Oct 2027
4‑1, and Dramane Kamagaté took the headlines on an afternoon when everything USM Alger tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad11 Oct 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Ghiles Guenaoui 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Marked 9.65 — 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Dramane Kamagaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.30. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Sep 2027
Nobody wants to play USM Alger 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dhirar Bensaadallah has, at USM Alger, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Oussama Benbout
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. USM Alger will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Lorient keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Amine Gherbi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Alger will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
USM Alger sell a favourite for $1.0M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Achref Abada was one of the reasons people came, and $1.0M does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
$1.6M was the most the club would pay and Baniyas 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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 targets23 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Metz is saying, and nobody at USM Alger is enjoying the guessing.
Market23 Aug 2027
Achref Abada has left for ES Setif in a $1.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ghiles Guenaoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
A loan move for Nordan Mukiele is in the works
USM Alger have made the call to FC Metz. 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
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Imad Eddine Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Farid Boulaya 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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wolverhampton have kept their man, and USM Alger go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Achref Abada, and the manager let it.
Market28 Jun 2027
The name of Dramane Kamagaté keeps appearing in other people's back pages. USM Alger say nothing, which says plenty.
Market28 Jun 2027
The shop window has Achref Abada in it
USM Alger have let the market know Achref Abada can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Imad Eddine Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2027
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza Boualem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
Islam Merili has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Islam Merili has written the date down.
Market31 May 2027
The name of Dramane Kamagaté keeps appearing in other people's back pages. USM Alger say nothing, which says plenty.
Match31 May 2027
Continental football is in reach for USM Alger
48 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” USM Alger may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Imad Eddine Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raouf Benguit 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Tahiri, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad3 May 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. Joan Tincres has moved up it.
The dugout3 May 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.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Dramane Kamagaté keeps appearing in other people's back pages. USM Alger say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Apr 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Imad Eddine Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2027
At 21, Dramane Kamagaté is already the best thing here
An average of 7.12 in a first team he is several years too young for. USM Alger have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Apr 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Farid Boulaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Dramane Kamagaté
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dramane Kamagaté has come out of that comparison in the side, and USM Alger have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Achref Abada gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market5 Apr 2027
Abdelmoumen Sifour returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Market5 Apr 2027
Hamza Boualem returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dramane Kamagaté signs something — a contract at USM Alger or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Imad Eddine Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Farid Boulaya and USM Alger agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. USM Alger know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad8 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Farid Boulaya 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
USM Alger make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Loan watch8 Mar 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 USM Alger, and 0 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.54, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ghiles Guenaoui damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Farid Boulaya 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salim Boukhanchouche, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. USM Alger told Islam Merili something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hicham Medjani was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the USM Alger dressing room was either.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
The leaders are next for USM Alger
CR Belouizdad top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ghiles Guenaoui
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Alger lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Ilyes Chetti
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilyes Chetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 8.13 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Farid Boulaya 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 targets15 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.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match13 Feb 2027
ASO Chlef made USM Alger work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Birmingham had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Match6 Feb 2027
After 11 games, USM Alger finally taste it again
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against JS Saoura; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Imad Eddine Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Ettifaq keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad8 Feb 2027
At 21, Dramane Kamagaté is already the best thing here
An average of 7.15 in a first team he is several years too young for. USM Alger have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raouf Benguit 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 targets8 Feb 2027
USM Alger asked and Kaizer Chiefs said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Joan Tincres 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 targets8 Feb 2027
The window shuts on the Gaya Merbah deal
USM Alger ran out of time with JS Kabylie. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Dramane Kamagaté takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dramane Kamagaté provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match30 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation USM Alger did not have in the autumn.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ahmed Khaldi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Alger they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market1 Feb 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.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 5 in, 1 out at USM Alger
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The deal with JS Kabylie 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
USM Alger say no — this time
The offer from MC El Bayadh for Imad Eddine Azzi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Dramane Kamagaté at 21 — 8.57
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dramane Kamagaté did not need any: 8.57, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match23 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten USM Alger
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.61, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with MC Oran, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ahmed Khaldi has agreed terms with MC Alger for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Zakaria Draoui 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
ES Setif arrived with $2.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MB Rouissat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at USM Alger is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Dramane Kamagaté at 21 — 7.97
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dramane Kamagaté did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Houssemeddine Ghacha has gone, the accounts have $2.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten USM Alger
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match16 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for USM Alger
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around USM Alger are no longer polite ones.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” USM Alger have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Raouf Benguit 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
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation USM Alger did not have in the autumn.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to USM Alger's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at USM Alger has to find a result from somewhere.
Match9 Jan 2027
USM Alger cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad11 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raouf Benguit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Khaldi, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match19 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for USM Alger?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Paradou? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed El Amine Ramdaoui trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match21 Dec 2026
Continental football is in reach for USM Alger
27 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market21 Dec 2026
The name of Dramane Kamagaté keeps appearing in other people's back pages. USM Alger say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the USM Alger squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Dramane Kamagaté takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dramane Kamagaté provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Romaric Etonde, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Farid Boulaya, 33, rolls back the years — 8.10
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. USM Alger know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Romaric Etonde has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match14 Dec 2026
The half-term report on USM Alger
Position 5, 26 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mohammed Tahiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Dec 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Farid Boulaya, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Farid Boulaya, 33, rolls back the years — 9.55
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.55 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raouf Benguit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every USM Alger game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at MC El Bayadh runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Saâdi Radouani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raouf Benguit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hicham Medjani after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against JS Kabylie in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dramane Kamagaté signs something — a contract at USM Alger or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Nov 2026
USM Alger refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 17 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.97 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. USM Alger know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to MB Rouissat to sit and watch. I want to come back to USM Alger and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for USM Alger. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match31 Oct 2026
ASO Chlef made USM Alger work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
No hiding place for Ahmed Khaldi
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The dugout
A promise honoured at USM Alger
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Oct 2026
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Raouf Benguit 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over MB Rouissat, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Hicham Medjani kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Achref Abada gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market19 Oct 2026
No place for Ziad Moualhi in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ziad Moualhi has his answer from USM Alger; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match7 Oct 2026
USM Alger bow out of the cup
MB Rouissat go through and USM Alger 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 7.96 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dramane Kamagaté and USM Alger agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to MC El Bayadh to sit and watch. I want to come back to USM Alger and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Romaric Etonde. 1‑0 against MC El Bayadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed El Amine Ramdaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Dramane Kamagaté took the headlines on an afternoon when everything USM Alger tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at USM Alger
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Raouf Benguit 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match3 Oct 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Dramane Kamagaté in the middle of it, and CS Constantine unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Salaheddine Benyachou and USM Alger agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.95 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Zakaria Draoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raouf Benguit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over MC Alger, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at USM Alger
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout28 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. CS Constantine moved on, Dramane Kamagaté reports back to USM Alger, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market14 Sep 2026
USM Alger say no — this time
The offer from MC El Bayadh for Imad Eddine Azzi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raouf Benguit 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 targets14 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Mélo N'Diaye deal
USM Alger ran out of time with CS Constantine. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Match12 Sep 2026
ES Mostaganem left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to MC El Bayadh to sit and watch. I want to come back to USM Alger and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$550.0K settles it between the clubs for Mélo N'Diaye
CS Constantine have accepted the money. What USM Alger do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Alger can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 16 in, 3 out at USM Alger
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Alfa Semedo deal
USM Alger ran out of time with Al-Fayha. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ala Eddine Limane is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market7 Sep 2026
Add another name to the list: MC Oran have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ahmed Khaldi. The answer from USM Alger has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raouf Benguit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
USM Alger asked and Le Havre AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
USM Alger say no — this time
The offer from MC Oran for Dramane Kamagaté 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Le Havre AC is saying, and nobody at USM Alger is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
MC Oran wanted more than $670.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
USM Alger asked and ES Mostaganem said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raouf Benguit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
MC Alger wanted more than $1.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
USM Alger have gone to MC Oran 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $723.1K — a club that wants Moulay Abdelaziz enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
USM Alger had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Chamois Niortais, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Zakaria Draoui 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Dramane Kamagaté has come up in conversations USM Alger were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raouf Benguit 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 targets17 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.