71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Mostaganem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ES Mostaganem people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Charleroi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ali Haroun 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmida Zenasni 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ES Mostaganem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Mostaganem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Benfica keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ES Mostaganem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmida Zenasni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; ES Mostaganem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Néhémie Lurika 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 ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem 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 Taher Ben Khelifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ES Mostaganem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Mostaganem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ES Mostaganem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at OGC Nice is saying, and nobody at ES Mostaganem is enjoying the guessing.
Ahmida Zenasni 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. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Haroun. 1‑0 against USM Khenchela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Ali Haroun was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
In brief
SquadWords at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from ES Ben Aknoun for Mohamed Medjaji 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Mostaganem 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 Bournemouth is saying, and nobody at ES Mostaganem is enjoying the guessing.
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Mostaganem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Bournemouth, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdellah El Moudène, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.