Feyenoord and AZ have settled on $7.2M. 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Feyenoord people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Feyenoord have gone to Twente with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Vitesse paid $13.9M and Feyenoord took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Feyenoord, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.83 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Feyenoord is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feyenoord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Givairo Read is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Excelsior in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” De Graafschap had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Feyenoord can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Feyenoord hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aymen Sliti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Feyenoord, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Mika Mármol 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 Raheem Sterling was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
33 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gjivai Zechiël is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The offer from Utrecht for Noah Naujoks 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitesse have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miliano Jonathans was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Miliano Jonathans is on 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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miliano Jonathans was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 games, 4 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Excelsior now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Excelsior has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.