“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSKA Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Dinamo Moscow for Dmitry Vasiljev 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 phone has started ringing about Alexandr Lazarev again, and this time the name on the line is Akhmat Grozny. CSKA Moscow are listening politely and promising nothing.
$550.0K on the table at Krasnodar. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
CSKA Moscow have gone to Lokomotiv Moscow 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.
The offer went to Krasnodar this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer went to Zenit this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Vasiljev 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 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 easiest signature of my career.” Marco Carnesecchi and CSKA Moscow agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. El Mehdi Maouhoub will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSKA Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Valery Zorin 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.
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 CSKA Moscow 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Widzew Łódź is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Wiktor Kania 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.
Squad12 May 2036
Words at Widzew Łódź training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Cheng 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.
10 clean sheets from 33 appearances at Pogoń Grodzisk Mazowiecki. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Widzew Łódź, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Šmiga signs something — a contract at Widzew Łódź or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Widzew Łódź they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Michalis Kosidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 May 2036
Words at Widzew Łódź training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Šmiga 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 Widzew Łódź game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at GKS Tychy runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. David Ricardo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Widzew Łódź will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Widzew Łódź they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Michalis Kosidis 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 Christopher Cheng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Widzew Łódź have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Widzew Łódź will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Michalis Kosidis 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 Christopher Cheng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Widzew Łódź are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Widzew Łódź, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Widzew Łódź. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Widzew Łódź can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Widzew Łódź will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Tokar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Widzew Łódź the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Widzew Łódź is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Widzew Łódź
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Widzew Łódź they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christopher Cheng and Widzew Łódź agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Daniel Šmiga 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
8 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSKA Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
41 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSKA Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSKA Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CSKA Moscow can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“I watch every CSKA Moscow game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Druzhba 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 Marco Carnesecchi is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSKA Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mason Greenwood 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.
Spartak Moscow next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
“I watch every CSKA Moscow game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Volga runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSKA Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSKA Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Vasiljev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 CSKA Moscow know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSKA Moscow, another week without a signature from Dmitry Vasiljev.
In brief
The dugoutMason Greenwood has become a man the manager trusts
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSKA Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Artem Karpukas is living that version at CSKA Moscow, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee is $2.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Zenit drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Mason Greenwood 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 name of Milan Majstorović has come up in conversations CSKA Moscow were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
Boardroom10 academy graduates step up at CSKA Moscow
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CSKA Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marco Carnesecchi 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 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.
Squad14 May 2035
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramiro Di Luciano 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 CSKA Moscow can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSKA Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA Moscow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CSKA Moscow heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Damir Qasabūlat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSKA Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Courtney Clarke has agreed terms with Krylya Sovetov for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramiro Di Luciano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; CSKA Moscow are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ilja Yeremeev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Mikhailov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSKA Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Ilja Yeremeev, marked 7.86, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Marco Carnesecchi 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.
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.
“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; CSKA Moscow are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Artem Karpukas has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means CSKA Moscow have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
32 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.
11 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSKA Moscow 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 David Ricardo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. CSKA Moscow will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
31 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.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSKA Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dmitry Vasiljev scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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.
Marco Carnesecchi 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 Ramiro Di Luciano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo St Petersburg, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
1 for Ilja Yeremeev, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSKA Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
26 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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSKA Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSKA Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for CSKA Moscow and a story that will outlast his contract.
Vadim Rakov 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.