Adriano

Goalkeeper - Ankaragucu
14 Jan 2030
Monday
Process
178 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Ankaragucu sink to position 19

5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Ezequiel Gerez is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ankaragucu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Joaquín Avilés hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ankaragucu can pretend not to have heard.

In brief

Back issues
158 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ankaragucu boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ankaragucu can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Market

Tomáš Vaclík hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ankaragucu can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Gil Giovanni Burón stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Gil Giovanni Burón and Ankaragucu agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

The armband comes off Osman Çelik

Ankaragucu will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

Squad

Adriano 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.

Boardroom

Ankaragucu pull $9.2M back off the table

The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.

Squad

Ezequiel Gerez asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Ankaragucu put Mostafa El Khawaga up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mostafa El Khawaga may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

154 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

9 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Mostafa El Khawaga hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ankaragucu can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Léiner Escalante signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Léiner Escalante commits to Ankaragucu for another 2 years.

Market

Experience through the door at Ankaragucu

Tomáš Vaclík arrives at 40 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.

Squad

Adriano 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.

Squad

Lucas Baldunciel has company in his position

The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Lucas Baldunciel keeps the shirt for now, at Ankaragucu's convenience rather than his own.

Squad

Mert Can asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

149 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Ankaragucu part company with Interim Coach

The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.

Boardroom

Interim Coach takes charge at Ankaragucu

“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.

Squad

Ankaragucu lose Gökhan Sazdağı

79 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Leandro Matos says Ankaragucu went back on their word

“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.

Market

Bader Kabli asks to leave Ankaragucu

“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.

Market

Miraç Şimşek attracts admirers

The name of Miraç Şimşek has come up in conversations Ankaragucu were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Adriano

“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.

Squad

Santiago Morales asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Boardroom

$9.2M taken back off the Ankaragucu table

What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.

In brief

119 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

6 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Ankaragucu taken apart

1-4 to Trabzonspor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Mervan Yiğit hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ankaragucu can pretend not to have heard.

Match

No end in sight to Ankaragucu's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ankaragucu has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Santiago Morales signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Santiago Morales commits to Ankaragucu for another 5 years.

Loan watch

Burak Calhanoglu wants to come home

“I did not go to Dila to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ankaragucu and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik

“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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Ankaragucu

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

Squad

Lucas Baldunciel knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ankaragucu, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

The armband comes off Tarık Çetin

Ankaragucu will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

In brief

115 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

9 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Adriano asks to leave Ankaragucu

“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.

Squad

Tarık Çetin signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tarık Çetin commits to Ankaragucu for another 3 years.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Tarık Çetin

“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.

Squad

Costly mistake from Tarık Çetin

An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Tarık Çetin knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.

Loan watch

Burak Calhanoglu wants to come home

“I did not go to Dila to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ankaragucu and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.

Match

Honours even between Ankaragucu and Konyaspor

2-2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Squad

Lucas Baldunciel finally opens his account

He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Ankaragucu have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.

Market

Apostolis Konstantopoulos joins Ankaragucu on a free

No fee and no drama: Apostolis Konstantopoulos has signed at Ankaragucu, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

Market

Emir Tonbul joins Ankaragucu on a free

No fee and no drama: Emir Tonbul has signed at Ankaragucu, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

In brief

99 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ange Lago hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ankaragucu can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Ankaragucu lose Gökhan Sazdağı

19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Market

Ankaragucu sign Adriano for $370.0K

The paperwork is done: Adriano joins from Hatayspor in a deal worth $370.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Market

Miraç Şimşek is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ankaragucu has been clear about where Miraç Şimşek stands, which is more than many ever get.

Squad

Gastón Rodríguez knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ankaragucu, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Tarık Çetin linked with a move away

The name of Tarık Çetin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ankaragucu say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

98 Edition

The Ankaragucu Post

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Mervan Yiğit hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ankaragucu can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Omar Fayed is a Ankaragucu player

The fee is $3.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Fenerbahce drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Market

Ankaragucu sell İsmail Çokçalış for $3.0M

İsmail Çokçalış has left for Kayserispor in a $3.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Ankaragucu sell Yohan Boli for $170.0K

Yohan Boli has left for Alanyaspor in a $170.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

Mahmut Tekdemir knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ankaragucu, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

Gökhan Sazdağı has company in his position

The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Gökhan Sazdağı keeps the shirt for now, at Ankaragucu's convenience rather than his own.

In brief