Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhtar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The name of Gleiker Mendoza has come up in conversations Shakhtar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhtar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Veres for Marian Faryna 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lucas Ferreira is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marlon Gomes 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 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhtar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Muhamadou Kanteh is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Victoriia Sumy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Viktor Tsukanov. The answer from Shakhtar has not changed — yet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhtar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yevhen Volynets is living that version at Shakhtar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Marlon Gomes 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Add another name to the list: Oleksandriya have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Prosper Obah. The answer from Shakhtar has not changed — yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhtar 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 Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 goals in 22 games at Fehervar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Shakhtar updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Shakhtar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Kryskiv 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 watch every Shakhtar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Metalist runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Makar Tverdokhlib did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shakhtar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Ruch for Irakli Azarovi 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Marlon has agreed terms with Dynamo Kyiv for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Oleh Horin again, and this time the name on the line is Livyi Bereh. Shakhtar are listening politely and promising nothing.
55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Isaque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.89
A mark of 8.89 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.
28 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take 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 Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isaque. 2‑1 against Nyva, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsMarlon Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhtar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahima Dabo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Prosper Obah 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Prosper Obah 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 phone has started ringing about Anton Hlushchenko again, and this time the name on the line is Nyva. Shakhtar are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Shakhtar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irakli Azarovi 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“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 Shakhtar hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Shakhtar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marlon Gomes 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 Shakhtar 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Shakhtar told Majed Rashid something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nils Miatke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slaven Belupo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAntonio Milić falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slaven Belupo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slaven Belupo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAntonio Milić falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Prosper Obah 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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
Squad5 new faces, and Slaven Belupo are still learning each other
Words at Shakhtar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marlon Gomes 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.
Gonçalves 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 at Shakhtar 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slaven Belupo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
SquadA last season at home is what Nils Miatke is after
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Ljuban Crepulja 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Antonio Milić 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.
“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 Slaven Belupo, and 0 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
“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; Slaven Belupo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Prosper Obah 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.
Marlon Gomes 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Eguinaldo 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.
Nobody at Shakhtar 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Antonio Milić 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slaven Belupo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Prosper Obah 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
The name of Ricardo Marecos has come up in conversations Slaven Belupo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Prosper Obah 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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 watch every Slaven Belupo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Istra 1961 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Božić signs something — a contract at Slaven Belupo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Slaven Belupo interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Daniel Vukas keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Antonio Milić 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ivan Božić has his answer from Slaven Belupo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
SquadAntonio Milić is playing like a man with something to prove
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
Prosper Obah 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Dukla Prague will make the call about Ricardo Marecos this week. Slaven Belupo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I watch every Slaven Belupo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Istra 1961 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slaven Belupo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Ricardo Marecos again, and this time the name on the line is Dukla Prague. Slaven Belupo are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ljuban Crepulja 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.
The fee is $480.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. HNK Rijeka drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Prosper Obah 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 chase for Antonio Kuš ended with $180.0K changing hands and Sesvete out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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.
Hajduk Split go through and Slaven Belupo go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bence Gergényi is living that version at Slaven Belupo, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Hajduk Split have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Filip Mažar. The answer from Slaven Belupo has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Antonio Milić 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.
Position 10 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Antonio Milić 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.
“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 Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Prosper Obah 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Slaven Belupo is running low.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The mood at Slaven Belupo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slaven Belupo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Karlo Išasegi 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slaven Belupo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Antonio Milić 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.
Filip Jović 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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 did not go to Hajduk Split to sit and watch. I want to come back to Slaven Belupo and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kristijan Kramaric has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Antonio Milić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Slaven Belupo.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Antonio Milić 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Prosper Obah 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Karlo Sentić: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Slaven Belupo is running low.
A 0‑0 win over NK Varazdin, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Slaven Belupo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and HNK Rijeka spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Prosper Obah 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.
Position 10 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.
“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 Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Antonio Milić 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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Osman Hadžikić.
Prosper Obah 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Antonio Milić 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slaven Belupo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Milić and Slaven Belupo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Milić 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.
Igor Lepinjica 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.