Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Adana Demirspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Adana Demirspor can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” İsmail Yüksek and Adana Demirspor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Adana Demirspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Omar Fayed 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 had been thinking. İsmail Yüksek 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 unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Salih Malkoçoğlu is somebody else's player now, and $600.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Adana Demirspor 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 Adana Demirspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” İsmail Yüksek and Adana Demirspor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adana Demirspor 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.
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.
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.
“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 Adana Demirspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 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 Adana Demirspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Dec 2033
İsmail Yüksek 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mouhamed Gueye. 2‑1 against Kayserispor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
“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 Adana Demirspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adana Demirspor 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamin Young 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adana Demirspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Oct 2033
İsmail Yüksek 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Adana Demirspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Adana Demirspor can pretend not to have heard.
7.61, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
İsmail Yüksek 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Adana Demirspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.59 for the rest of 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 Adana Demirspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Adana Demirspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Adana Demirspor can pretend not to have heard.
Marked 6.79 on 17 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Omar Fayed 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 had been thinking. Yhormar Hurtado 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Adana Demirspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Adana Demirspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Konyaspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kian Visser. The answer from Adana Demirspor has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adana Demirspor 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 Adana Demirspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadYhormar Hurtado falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Adana Demirspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Adana Demirspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Omar Fayed 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Benjamin Young is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Adana Demirspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. İsmail Yüksek 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Add another name to the list: Gaziantep have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kian Visser. The answer from Adana Demirspor has not changed — yet.
Omar Fayed 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Adana Demirspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. İsmail Yüksek 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.
İsmail Yüksek 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 had been thinking. Yhormar Hurtado 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 Adana Demirspor can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nolan Tabar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Adana Demirspor 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 Adana Demirspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Apr 2033
İsmail Yüksek 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Antalyaspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Adana Demirspor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 Mar 2033
A brace, and Tunahan Taşçı takes the afternoon — 8.22
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tunahan Taşçı provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Adana Demirspor can pretend not to have heard.
Omar Fayed 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.
23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yhormar Hurtado 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 easiest signature of my career.” Kerem Tokoz and Adana Demirspor agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Omar Fayed 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 had been thinking. İsmail Yüksek 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Adana Demirspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2032
İsmail Yüksek 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Kian Visser scored in the 88th minute, Fenerbahce had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Adana Demirspor took the lot.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Adana Demirspor can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yusuf Demirkıran will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Adana Demirspor 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 Adana Demirspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2032
İsmail Yüksek 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Adana Demirspor 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 Adana Demirspor 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.
“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; Adana Demirspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kian Visser signs something — a contract at Adana Demirspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.