$370.0K was the most the club would pay and Konyaspor were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows 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 Alanyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Alanyaspor would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alanyaspor 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 Fidan Aliti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Boluspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boluspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Almir Aganspahić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Boluspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Jussa 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Boluspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Boluspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Boluspor has been clear about where Türker Dırdıroğlu stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Can Bozdogan signs something — a contract at Boluspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 18 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Ianis Hagi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Alanyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fidan Aliti 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maestro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alanyaspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and İbrahim Kaya has written the date down.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Arda Usluoğlu’s exile
Meschack Elia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Alanyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fidan Aliti 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 goals in 9 games at Pyunik — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Alanyaspor updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alanyaspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mbaye Diagne has written the date down.
Fidan Aliti has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Arda Usluoğlu did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boluspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Matheus Jussa 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 needed Arda Usluoğlu to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vanspor, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fatih Sinik was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Boluspor dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Băluţă was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Arda Usluoğlu 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.
“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; Boluspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Fatih Sinik, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Boluspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Boluspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Almir Aganspahić 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.
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 a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boluspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Rizespor ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Arda Usluoğlu takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arda Usluoğlu provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Almir Aganspahić 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Arda Usluoğlu 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Matheus Jussa has just signed for Boluspor, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boluspor can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.4M — a club that wants Rhaldney enough to be asked twice.
Boluspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, 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 Boluspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Boluspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Băluţă 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.