The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RSCA Futures people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nunzio Engwanda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Anderlecht will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
This is not rotation. Yira Sor has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Anderlecht is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Ntanda 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.
29 appearances and 2 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Senne Van Der Perre is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marco Kana wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Enzo Sternal 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.
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 Ilay Camara is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Valentin Antov 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Sternal 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.
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 Ilay Camara is on 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 Anderlecht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Ilyes Ziani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Aiham Ousou 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Anderlecht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Oleg Reabciuk 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.
28 games, 8 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Anderlecht now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Sternal 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.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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 Anderlecht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Valentin Antov wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Oleg Reabciuk 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 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 Anderlecht know it.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Anderlecht know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
Ilyes Ziani 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.
Francs Borains asked and Lokeren-Temse said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Francs Borains told Julien Ngoy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Francs Borains, another week without a signature from Dorian Dessoleil.
In brief
SquadA Francs Borains teenager takes the young player award
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hossni Soye Ndime did not need any: 8.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Francs Borains close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Waasland-Beveren moved on, Ebbe De Vlaeminck reports back to Francs Borains, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
7 matches without a win, and then this, against RSCA Futures. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
Francs Borains ran out of time with Lokeren-Temse. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Samuel Ntanda 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.
“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 Francs Borains, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Francs Borains asked and Anderlecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Julien Ngoy 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 easiest signature of my career.” Sofiane Sidi Ali and Francs Borains agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Francs Borains this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Francs Borains asked and Lokeren-Temse said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiham Ousou 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.” Hervé Matthys and Francs Borains agree another 3 years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Francs Borains can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Ilyes Ziani 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 Francs Borains can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Samuel Ntanda 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mouhamed Belkheir 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Francs Borains will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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 Francs Borains, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
Massimo Bruno 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Théo Gécé has his answer from Francs Borains; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Francs Borains have made the call to Lommel. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Standard Liege have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Ilyes Ziani 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 Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Thomas Lukaku after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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 Francs Borains know it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Francs Borains this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 5, 24 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thomas Lukaku after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Francs Borains is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Julien Ngoy 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Julien Ngoy. 2‑1 against RFC Liege, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Samuel Ntanda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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.” Thomas Lukaku, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thijme Scheelen is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Thomas Lukaku after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Boardroom92% of the income goes out in wages at Francs Borains
Valentin Antov 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.
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christian Courtois kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against OH Leuven in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Francs Borains scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amine Benfriha did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ilyes Ziani 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mouhamed Belkheir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hossni Soye Ndime provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Francs Borains know it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
Julien Ngoy 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.
He is 22 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.
Something was said to Samuel Ntanda and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Julien Ngoy 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Thomas Lukaku to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Francs Borains told Naoufal Bohamdi-Kamoni something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ebbe De Vlaeminck has his answer from Francs Borains; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lukas Mondele’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Francs Borains needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Anderlecht are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
5 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.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Ilyes Ziani 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 easiest signature of my career.” Massimo Bruno and Francs Borains agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Thomas Lukaku to a room that had heard them before.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Francs Borains this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Samuel Ntanda 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Thomas Lukaku could afford to be generous.
A brace, and Ilyes Ziani takes the afternoon — 7.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ilyes Ziani provided it, and the 7.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mouhamed Belkheir has just signed for Francs Borains, and for once the answer mattered.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Amine Benfriha 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 30 signed and 24 gone
That is the business done at Francs Borains until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Ilyes Ziani 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Samuel Ntanda 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.
Everybody at Francs Borains saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Battiste Crévieaux and Francs Borains agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Liepaja for Matteo Filorizzo 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.
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.
Aiham Ousou 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 Julien Ngoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Francs Borains they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francs Borains asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ilyes Ziani 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Samuel Ntanda 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.
Add another name to the list: Liepaja have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matteo Filorizzo. The answer from Francs Borains has not changed — yet.
7 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.
Aiham Ousou 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.
Francs Borains have gone to Zulte Waregem 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hossni Soye Ndime. 2‑0 against Seraing, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Ngoy 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.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $34.1M has been paid because Bradley Locko is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bradley Locko was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $34.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The phone has started ringing about Samuel Ntanda again, and this time the name on the line is Francs Borains. Anderlecht are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I watch every Anderlecht game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Olympic Charleroi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
5 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jovan Mituljikić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Francs Borains the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francs Borains asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ilyes Ziani 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 Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Francs Borains have made the call to Anderlecht. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arsène Wukanya trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lukas Mondele
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Dmytro Riznyk is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mao Hosoya signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Anderlecht has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Killian Sardella has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Dmytro Riznyk 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 Adriano Bertaccini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rami Lougmani and Anderlecht agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Roméo Amané's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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 Adriano Bertaccini is on 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 Anderlecht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adriano Bertaccini signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Anderlecht has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Anderlecht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Anderlecht had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Stroeykens 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Anderlecht, and 13 appearances in 40 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Ilay Camara is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mao Hosoya signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Mirko Franchi 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.
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.
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.
Junior Diouf 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 Milutin Vidosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Junior Diouf 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 Lukas Scherff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Wil, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Wil, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milutin Vidosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Franco 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 watch every Wil game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bellinzona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Samuel Ntanda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wil this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Wil can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Juan Franco 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 watch every Wil game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bellinzona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Samuel Ntanda is on it.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wil lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Lukas Ahrend and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Juan Franco 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A loan enquiry to Waasland-Beveren: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Samuel Ntanda 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Wil has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wil lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wil can pretend not to have heard.
Wil had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Thun, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milutin Vidosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wil have done the hard part with Grasshopper, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milutin Vidosavljević 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 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 Wil know it.
A loan enquiry to Lausanne-Sport: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milutin Vidosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Franco 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.
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.
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 Samuel Ntanda is on 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 Wil, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milutin Vidosavljević 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 Wil this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Nobody at Wil 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milutin Vidosavljević 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.
Mirko Franchi 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Wil are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
6 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Fabio Lymann
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Samuel Ntanda, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.66
A mark of 8.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mirko Franchi has, at Wil, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lukas Scherff 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Anderlecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dmytro Riznyk 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 Adriano Bertaccini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Mao Hosoya and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Ilay Camara is on it.
8 goals in 9 games at Olympic Charleroi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Anderlecht updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Anderlecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Charleroi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milutin Vidosavljević 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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Wil. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lukas Scherff 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A 1‑0 win over Stade Nyonnais, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Umar Saho 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.
7.61, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Wil had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout2 Nov 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.” Kevin Comert, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Ntanda has become a man the manager trusts
Position 8 and 9 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wil have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milutin Vidosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lukas Ahrend 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 Wil can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milutin Vidosavljević 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Orges Bunjaku 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.
Position 7, 9 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Samuel Ntanda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wil this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Minute 93, against Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
12 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.