“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mômô Fanyé Touré had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Syunik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domi Jaurès Massoumou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Allegretto 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Alashkert know it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alashkert people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 20 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Stal Rzeszów 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.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alashkert will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajally Drammeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Joseph Sabobo
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alashkert will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Alashkert can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Allegretto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domi Jaurès Massoumou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Allegretto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 15 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Alashkert are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Matyukhin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Allegretto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 3, 14 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alashkert lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Andrea Allegretto 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.
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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alashkert lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alashkert lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Alashkert will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Allegretto 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Caio Henrique
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Alashkert.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Caio Henrique 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Allegretto 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domi Jaurès Massoumou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajally Drammeh 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Alashkert are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Alashkert, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Ilyan Bouchkar 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.
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.
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 Erik Simonyan has written the date down.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alashkert people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Mômô Fanyé Touré to Ararat has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Alashkert with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Urartu is saying, and nobody at Alashkert is enjoying the guessing.
Klaidher 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Simonyan 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Sesay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Malik Odeyinka 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Simonyan 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arsen Sadoyan is on it.
Malik Odeyinka 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 Erik Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Alashkert is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Alashkert will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Matyukhin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Alashkert has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Alashkert that is a harder question to answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artem Poliarus has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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 Klaidher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Alashkert will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutCornel Râpă knocks on the manager's door
Position 3, 29 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thiago Mendes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Alashkert know it.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Alashkert now know that too.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kajally Drammeh is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mômô Fanyé Touré signs something — a contract at Alashkert or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alashkert people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Thiago Mendes 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Alashkert know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klaidher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Artem Poliarus is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alashkert, another week without a signature from Artem Poliarus.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alashkert people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Klaidher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Thiago Mendes 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.
Add another name to the list: Bentonit Ijevan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yaroslav Matyukhin. The answer from Alashkert has not changed — yet.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Daniel Aghbalyan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Alashkert than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 3, 29 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Krovinović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kajally Drammeh is on it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 29 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alashkert people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Van have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David Nduka. The answer from Alashkert has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alashkert asked and Gandzasar 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klaidher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Alashkert saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Alashkert pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
Loan watchIbrahim Sesay’s loan is measured in nothing happening
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Figueirense can tell you which week it ends in.
The chase for Matheus Rocha ended with $300.0K changing hands and Ituano out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Dias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alashkert have kept their man, and Figueirense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hayq waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
The first defeat in 13 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Noah; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The phone has started ringing about Philip Ejike again, and this time the name on the line is Ararat. Alashkert are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Alashkert are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klaidher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
Thiago Mendes 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Matyukhin 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pyunik next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Ararat had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Alashkert did not stop to explain themselves.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Mendes 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.
At 20 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.
8.12. 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Boardroom85% of the income goes out in wages at Alashkert
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Alashkert are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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 dugout5 Apr 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.” Artur Mkhitaryan chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Klaidher 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 Thiago Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thiago Mendes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Noah in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Alashkert will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Mendes 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 is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Gandzasar next, and one man in the Alashkert dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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 Thiago Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Alashkert know now that the thought has arrived.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Nduka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Alashkert would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Alashkert close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Thiago Mendes 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Alashkert know it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Klaidher 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Cornel Râpă has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Amit Mamut is 19, and Alashkert have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Urartu have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Cornel Râpă 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Alashkert are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Artem Poliarus is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Klaidher 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Alashkert know it.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Alashkert know now that the thought has arrived.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cornel Râpă was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klaidher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Alashkert, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Olawale Farayola has written the date down.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Malik Odeyinka is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Klaidher 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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Alashkert game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bentonit Ijevan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klaidher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Caio Henrique is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Alashkert. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Khalil Sammani’s exile
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Alashkert has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
$120.0K on the table at Urartu. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$260.0K was the most the club would pay and Noah 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Alashkert would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Jefinho has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Alashkert will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The name of Khalil Sammani has come up in conversations Alashkert were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Still no offer on the table, and Karen Nalbandyan’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Alashkert are still learning each other
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Juri Kirchmayr is in the works