Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ifeanyi Okechukwu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rangers International the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rangers International have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bassey John 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.” Chibueze Oputa and Rangers International agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I watch every Rangers International game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wikki Tourists runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Emmanuel Jesam has written the date down.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Rangers International have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rangers International, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 16 on 43 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rangers International is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rangers International has to find a result from somewhere.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rangers International this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Rangers International know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout27 Sep 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Chinedu Onyekuru to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rangers International has been clear about where Godwin Obaje stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Waheed Adebayo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rangers International needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Uwana Asuquo and Rangers International agree another 4 years.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Rangers International know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout20 Sep 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 Chinedu Onyekuru to a room that had heard them before.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Remo Stars.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emmanuel Jesam trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Kelechi Ogbodo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emmanuel Okoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rangers International the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bassey John 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Rangers International will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout13 Sep 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Chinedu Onyekuru to a room that had heard them before.
Barau next, and one man in the Rangers International dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rangers International, another week without a signature from Emmanuel Okoko.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rangers International will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rangers International is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rangers International can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Rangers International 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Rangers International will try again when the window opens; Abia Warriors may not be selling by then.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Chibueze Oputa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.23, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Bassey John, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 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.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Kano Pillars spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
SquadStanley Dimgba falls out with a teammate over standards
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bassey John did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 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 Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at Enyimba is enjoying the guessing.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bassey John 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.
In brief
SquadAfolayan Peters falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Mamelodi Sundowns, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Enyimba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Chibudem Favour has come up in conversations Enyimba were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bassey John, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 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 Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Enyimba and Kun Khalifat in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Enyimba asked and Orlando Pirates 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 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Enyimba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Enyimba asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Enyimba can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Godwin Dede will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Enyimba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Enyimba asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Plateau United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afolayan Peters 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Eke commits to Enyimba for another 4 years.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Abraham Chukwueze left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Bathusi Aubaas is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Umeh Emmanuel is in the works
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Enyimba can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Godwin Dede will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Enyimba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.” Christopher Richards and Enyimba agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Enyimba can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanley Dimgba 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
Transfer targetsA loan move for Aubrey Modiba is in the works
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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 Stanley Dimgba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joseph Abiodun trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Abraham Chukwueze on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Enyimba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
14 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.
7.85, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 22 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.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
He is 21 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sama'ila Bello, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afolayan Peters 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.
0‑4 against Katsina United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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 Stanley Dimgba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Mar 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Abraham Chukwueze to a room that had heard them before.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Sama'ila Bello was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Enyimba man
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 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 Enyimba 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: Ezekiel Edidiong. 3‑2 against Bendel Insurance, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 20 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.55, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afolayan Peters 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Enyimba is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
The dugout1 Mar 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.” Abraham Chukwueze kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Enyimba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at Enyimba is enjoying the guessing.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bassey John is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Enyimba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Bassey John, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Enyimba 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Enyimba have done the hard part with Chippa United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Enyimba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Enyimba asked and Mamelodi Sundowns 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 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 bid was some way short and Enyimba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Bassey John, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Enyimba moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Abraham Chukwueze, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Enyimba
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Enyimba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joseph Abiodun trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Enyimba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba 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 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 Kingsley Maduforo 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 Enyimba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba 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.
Nobody at Enyimba 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bassey John trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Enyimba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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 Stanley Dimgba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Enyimba 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.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Afolayan Peters was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jonathan Jacob obliged against Warri Wolves. 4‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Enyimba.
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wikki Tourists waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.37 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Augustine Nwaorisa 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Enyimba had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Orlando Pirates, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ifeanyi Ihemekwele 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afolayan Peters 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
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Issah Mohammed at his very best
7.59, 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.
He is 20 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.
The phone has started ringing about David Eke again, and this time the name on the line is Berekum Chelsea. Enyimba are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
8.03. 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.