The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KV Kortrijk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Sem Audoor 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad25 Aug 2036
Jonathan Foss 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KV Kortrijk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Kortrijk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
KV Kortrijk and KAA Gent have settled on $33.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Etebo Ihenacho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
KV Kortrijk asked and Bayer Leverkusen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Glenn Knorr 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 Jul 2036
Jonathan Foss 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Aaron Zehnter is in the works
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Kortrijk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Anderlecht, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Buekers will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Abderrahmane Ndaw has agreed terms with Charleroi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Sem Audoor 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 Riley Carr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 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 KV Kortrijk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samin Mujevic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at KV Kortrijk 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KV Kortrijk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tom Gaal is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Sem Audoor 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KV Kortrijk, another week without a signature from Thomas Vervloet.
Glenn Knorr 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KV Kortrijk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Squad7 Apr 2036
A place in the month's best eleven for Tim Oermann
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tim Oermann has come out of that comparison in the side, and KV Kortrijk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Jakob Raspet will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at KV Kortrijk escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
A brace, and Jakob Raspet takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jakob Raspet provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Samin Mujevic 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kobus Bruinsma has agreed terms with Dender for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Rareş Burnete 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Salvador Negrete has, at KV Kortrijk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Samuel Alves 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.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KV Kortrijk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Feirense for Samuel Alves 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.
KV Kortrijk asked and Basel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Alves 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Athletico Paranaense for Samuel Alves 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Aaron Sky Schwarz 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 Hugo Cuenca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2‑1 against Pyunik, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Nelson Weiper was at the centre of the description.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KV Kortrijk 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 KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Borna Bošnjak 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 Nov 2035
Hugo Cuenca 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.
Racing Genk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Simone Lontani has pre-agreed a move to KV Kortrijk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Samuel Alves 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KV Kortrijk can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk 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 Hugo Cuenca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Borna Bošnjak 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 Nayel Mehssatou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
RWDM will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Glenn Knorr has pre-agreed a move to KV Kortrijk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and KV Kortrijk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Squad6 new faces, and KV Kortrijk are still learning each other
The offer from Koper for Mateo Aćimović 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nayel Mehssatou 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Angers SCO have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
KV Kortrijk have made the call to Bayern Munich. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk 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 Hugo Cuenca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Etebo Ihenacho and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maiken González wants continental football; whether KV Kortrijk can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Kortrijk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iliano Remans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
37 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Hugo Cuenca 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KV Kortrijk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iliano Remans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rune Reynders has agreed terms with Anderlecht for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether KV Kortrijk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abderrahmane Ndaw, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Aćimović 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.
In brief
SquadKV Kortrijk are still strangers to each other
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Kortrijk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Seraing waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
KV Kortrijk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Union SG, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 KV Kortrijk know 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KV Kortrijk, another week without a signature from Madi Monamay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Boardroom91% of the income goes out in wages at KV Kortrijk
0‑0 against Iberia 1999, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nayel Mehssatou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Nayel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Abderrahmane Ndaw 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.
A 1‑0 win over Standard Liege, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether KV Kortrijk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Victor Lind will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at KV Kortrijk escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lewis Jamieson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Oermann 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.