Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Astana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Bašić and Astana agree another 4 years.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A last season at home is what Bakary Nimaga is after
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.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Nobody at Astana 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Add another name to the list: Maccabi Petach Tikva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bakary Nimaga. The answer from Astana has not changed — yet.
Bakary Nimaga 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Samat Logvinenko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
SquadWords at Astana training over how hard people work
“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; Astana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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 words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Bašić 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 words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Astana will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Talgat Kuat has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dauren Beysebekov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Marin Tomasov 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
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Askhat Logvinenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Nobody at Astana 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
11 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.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yeldos Shomko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Astana will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nobody at Astana 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.
Aktobe go through and Astana go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Bakary Nimaga 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.
11 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Astana know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Nūrğaini Böribaev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Astana have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nūrali Zhaqsylyq did not need any: 8.05, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ivan Bašić 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nūrali Zhaqsylyq 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.
8.26. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsIvan Bašić was on a different afternoon to everybody else