“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Albacete can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Levski for Jovanny Bolívar 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 deal with Spartak Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Tarazona have accepted the money. What Albacete do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Efa Enabulele is living that version at Albacete, and it tends to show in the first month.
Albacete offered $1.0M; Guadalajara said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Álex Rubio 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.
Albacete asked and Real Sociedad 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aduana Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Liberty Professionals is saying, and nobody at Aduana Stars is enjoying the guessing.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Efa Enabulele 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.
Lalas Abubakar 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Johnson Amuzu 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.
Efa Enabulele 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Blankson Anoff. 3‑1 against New Edubiase United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnson Amuzu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aduana Stars.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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.” Nana Boakye kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Dankyi 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Nana Boakye could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Remember Adomako Boateng trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutHadi Haruna has become a man the manager trusts
MarketThe clock does Efa Enabulele’s negotiating for him
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxwell Arthur will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars 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 Aduana Stars 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 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.
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.
Efa Enabulele 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yussif Mubarik and Aduana Stars agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Johnson Amuzu 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 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.
Lalas Abubakar 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Dankyi 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 Aduana Stars 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stephen Amankona signs something — a contract at Aduana Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aduana Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Great Olympics kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Aduana Stars will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Aduana Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.91 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxwell Arthur will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tapelo Xoki 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnson Amuzu 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxwell Arthur will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tapelo Xoki 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Kuffour 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aduana Stars has been clear about where Isaac Mintah stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aduana Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
$610.0K settles it between the clubs for Felix Kyei
Medeama have accepted the money. What Aduana Stars 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 Aduana Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Johnson Amuzu 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.
Isaac Mintah 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 Aduana Stars 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.
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 Remember Adomako Boateng has written the date down.
Efa Enabulele 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abubakar Adams and Aduana Stars agree another 4 years.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Hadi Haruna is on it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aduana Stars have done the hard part with Medeama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Johnson Amuzu 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.
Aduana Stars asked and Inter Allies said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Aduana Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aduana Stars 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 Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Aduana Stars offered $150.0K; Liberty Professionals said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aduana Stars has been clear about where Stephen Badu stands, which is more than many ever get.
Asante Kotoko have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A loan enquiry to New Edubiase United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Bendel Insurance is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$150.0K on the table at Liberty Professionals. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ashanti Gold have kept their man, and Aduana Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Aduana Stars have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Efa Enabulele 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.
$66.0K was the most the club would pay and Hearts of Oak were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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.
Aduana Stars have made the call to Bendel Insurance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Aduana Stars 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Aduana Stars are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Aduana Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kofi Asante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kofi Asante has agreed terms with Inter Allies for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Aduana Stars have gone to Hearts of Oak 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.
Efa Enabulele 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 terraces10 Jul 2028
Aduana Stars spend $940.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $940.0K for Johnson Amuzu, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Aduana Stars offered $150.0K; Liberty Professionals said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Aduana Stars and Berekum Chelsea have settled on $940.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt 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 Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Aduana Stars asked and Ashanti Gold 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.
Asante Kotoko have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Benjamin Tsivanyo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aduana Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Asante Kotoko, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Berekum Chelsea have kept their man, and Aduana Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Efa Enabulele 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 Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Aduana Stars have made the call to Ashanti Gold. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The deal with Asante Kotoko is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars 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 Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Benjamin Tsivanyo has his answer from Aduana Stars; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Bechem United will make the call about Boa-At Regain this week. Aduana Stars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Aduana Stars have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
SquadRaised voices on the training ground at Aduana Stars
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Boa-At Regain
The dugoutDavid Oppong has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aduana Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Efa Enabulele 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 Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Kuffour trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Aduana Stars 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aduana Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Kuffour 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abubakar Adams and Aduana Stars agree another 4 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Samuel Kuffour 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yussif Mubarik 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aduana Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 11 on 36 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.
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.
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aduana Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Efa Enabulele 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.
Minute 85, against Berekum Chelsea, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars 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.
Everybody at Aduana Stars saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.11, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The goal that put Inter Allies ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Aduana Stars equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aduana Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aduana Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Blankson Anoff and Aduana Stars agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Bechem United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aduana Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Efa Enabulele 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.
Efa Enabulele 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aduana Stars can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Kuffour, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nana Boakye was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Aduana Stars dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ashanti Gold? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” BA All Stars had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aduana Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Aduana Stars 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Elvis Addo 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bechem United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Kuffour and Aduana Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Efa Enabulele 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 name of Abubakar Adams has come up in conversations Aduana Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Aduana Stars asked and Rivers United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Kuffour 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 remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aduana Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Up for the corner, and Alex Boakye delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alex Boakye scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Kuffour 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 20 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.
Efa Enabulele 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gregory Sekyere trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Charles Gyamfi Kamara is on it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emmanuel Marfo provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 19 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Emmanuel Marfo in the middle of it, and BA All Stars unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Oct 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.” Nana Boakye kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A 2‑1 win over New Edubiase United, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Aduana Stars scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Stephen Badu 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.
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.
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 8.05 — 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Kuffour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ibrahim Iddrisu and Aduana Stars agree another 1 years.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aduana Stars, another week without a signature from Efa Enabulele.
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Aduana Stars had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout4 Oct 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.” Nana Boakye kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Efa Enabulele 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Benjamin Asiedu Kwesi has just signed for Aduana Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
He is 23 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Kuffour 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nana Boakye after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
1‑4 to Heart of Lions, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clock did what Ashanti Gold would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Kuffour 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.
Elvis Addo 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Aduana Stars will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
$35.0K settles it between the clubs for Boalefa Pule
Ashanti Gold have accepted the money. What Aduana Stars do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Aduana Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kwadwo Atiemo 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. Francis Djiku 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Harrison Annan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Willem II for Daniel Awuni 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 shaken hands with Medeama; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.24, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The deal with Hearts of Oak is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Stephen Badu 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 Daniel Awuni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tondela have kept their man, and Aduana Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.