The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persija people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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: PSBS Biak have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fábio. The answer from Persija has not changed — yet.
Persija have made the call to Hapoel Beer Sheva. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Persis had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Persija asked and Bhayangkara Presisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Persija have made the call to Torreense. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadeo Argawinata 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Persijap waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persija is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 The request is on a desk at Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jordi Amat 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 Shaqueel van Persie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persija asked and Persib said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Shaqueel van Persie is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fábio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaqueel van Persie 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 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 Sani Rizki has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaqueel van Persie 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 club 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 it has been tried.
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 Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jordi Amat 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rizky Ridho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Persija 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.
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaqueel van Persie 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persija told Shaqueel van Persie something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Persija will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Persija 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jordi Amat 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaqueel van Persie 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 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 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Persija has been clear about where Andritany Adhiyasa stands, which is more than many ever get.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persija people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Persija offered $520.0K; Persis 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Shaqueel van Persie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Persija can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.