RWDM go through and Waasland-Beveren 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Waasland-Beveren have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Waasland-Beveren will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
Waasland-Beveren asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Waasland-Beveren have gone to Club Brugge 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.
The deal with KV Kortrijk 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aimé Omgba and Waasland-Beveren agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Waasland-Beveren have gone to KV Kortrijk 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.
$430.0K was the most the club would pay and Lokeren-Temse 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Waasland-Beveren go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Something was said to Kurt Abrahams and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Waasland-Beveren will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
$430.0K on the table at Lokeren-Temse. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Union SG paid $730.0K and Waasland-Beveren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer went to Anderlecht 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.
Waasland-Beveren offered $260.0K; KV Kortrijk said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Mpenza 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sieben Dewaele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sieben Dewaele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Dante Rigo has written the date down.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anass Hamite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Waasland-Beveren would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waasland-Beveren. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Léandre Kuavita’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Position 3, 46 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fréderic Soelle Soelle 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.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Fréderic Soelle Soelle 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.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kurt Abrahams will call it something else in private.
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Arno Verschueren was one of the reasons people came, and $8.3M does not replace that by itself.
11 matches without defeat, and then RFC Liege. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Waasland-Beveren 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jenson Jones is living that version at Waasland-Beveren, and it tends to show in the first month.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Westerlo paid $390.0K and Waasland-Beveren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Waasland-Beveren go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Club NXT had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Waasland-Beveren did not stop to explain themselves.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ferre Slegers 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.
Position 3, 29 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jesse van de Haar provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arno Verschueren scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Bruno Godeau 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jesse van de Haar 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.89, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Waasland-Beveren people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ilyes Najim was one of the reasons people came, and $3.3M does not replace that by itself.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The chase for Aimé Omgba ended with $5.0M changing hands and KAA Gent out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Waasland-Beveren offered $3.2M; Union SG said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Léandre Kuavita scored, was marked 7.47, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Aimé Omgba was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $5.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beau Reus 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$5.0M on the table at KAA Gent. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$3.2M on the table at Union SG. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from Igdir FK for Hüseyin Ertürk 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.4M — a club that wants Anouar Ait El Hadj enough to be asked twice.
Sieben Dewaele 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.