Marked for Marsel Bibishkov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cukaricki have kept their man, and Neftchi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to SKA Khabarovsk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Neftchi
Marsel Bibishkov 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
O'tkir O'ktamov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Neftchi 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftchi can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Sogdiana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muminhon Bahodirxonov. The answer from Neftchi has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Asilbek Jumayev commits to Neftchi for another 4 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Akron: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Neftchi have made the call to Septemvri. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neftchi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market4 Jan 2027
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 2 out at Septemvri
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
Septemvri say no — this time
The offer from Bukovyna for Marsel Bibishkov 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $295.8K — a club that wants Andrey Yordanov enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Septemvri had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Septemvri have gone to CSKA Sofia 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Emil Yanchev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Edney Ribeiro scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ludogorets, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.