Marked for Saba Sidamonidze
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Van
Artur Kartashyan 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
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Full training, no reaction, and a player who wants to be picked immediately. Van will hold him back a week and he will spend it arguing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Van can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Van
Artur Kartashyan 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Isah Yahaya Buhari is 19, and Van 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Van are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sarp Yavrucu and Van agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Van have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
In brief
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Market
Van shop where it costs nothing
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Market
The Mauro talk will not go away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$200.0K on the table at Alashkert. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Van
Artur Kartashyan 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.