139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Mfou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Fortuna Mfou and Unisport Bafang in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.13 — 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.
At 23 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.
Aminou Bouba damages knee ligaments — 154 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 154 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$13.0K settles it between the clubs for David Ntsama
Aigle Royal de Moungo have accepted the money. What Fortuna Mfou do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 21 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.
Marcel Djialeu 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.
Aminou Bouba damages knee ligaments — 161 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 161 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.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from AS PSI for Franck Bekono 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with PWD Bamenda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cotonsport Garoua have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marcel Djialeu 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.” Edgar Ngamaleu and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Fortuna Mfou would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Panthere du Nde, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Fortuna Mfou had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Colombe du Dja et Lobo have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karl Fai has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arnaud Ganago has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fortuna Mfou will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean Hugues Eyango and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jean Hugues Eyango 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 Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, another week without a signature from Randy Ntume.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aliou Souleyman Hendji and Fortuna Mfou agree another 4 years.
Aliou Souleyman Hendji 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.
Fortuna Mfou asked and Aigle Royal de la Menoua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Gislain Abianda again, and this time the name on the line is Foullah Edifice. Fortuna Mfou are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Fortuna Mfou know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.