Marked for Amine Galou
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
$350.0K from MC Alger for Benaissa Fettouche. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Paradou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Houssem Tarzout had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Paradou sell a favourite for $350.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Benaissa Fettouche was one of the reasons people came, and $350.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market26 Jun 2028
The bid was some way short and Paradou did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Paradou have done the hard part with ES Mostaganem, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to CS Constantine this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Adel Bouzida 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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Paradou offered $130.0K; USM Alger 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Paradou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jun 2028
MC Oran come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Paradou did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 targets12 Jun 2028
$28.0K on the table at CS Constantine. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohamed Lamine Tahar commits to Paradou for another 4 years.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Younes Badani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Paradou is pretending otherwise.
Market12 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: ES Ben Aknoun have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Amine Galou. The answer from Paradou has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paradou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 May 2028
Paradou up to position 2
57 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market8 May 2028
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fouad Kermiche and Paradou agree another 4 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Paradou
Adel Bouzida 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 dugout8 May 2028
This is not rotation. Abdallah Bendouma has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Paradou is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 May 2028
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Paradou have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad8 May 2028
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mustapha Soukkou is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 May 2028
Imad Reguieg knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Imad Reguieg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 May 2028
Nobody at Paradou 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paradou can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Paradou close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paradou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Feb 2028
The deal that would have taken Amine Galou to ES Ben Aknoun has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Paradou with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Adel Bouzida 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ouanisse Bouzahzah commits to Paradou for another 4 years.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Paradou
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taha Yassine Tahar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces7 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ben Ahmed Kohili 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 2028
“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 Paradou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Jan 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Paradou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market24 Jan 2028
Paradou say no — this time
The offer from ES Ben Aknoun for Amine Galou 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Paradou
Adel Bouzida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Paradou asked and Smouha said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
A loan move for Kamel Soufi is in the works
Paradou have made the call to MC Oran. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
A promise honoured at Paradou
Something was said to Imad Reguieg and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Mustapha Soukkou has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Paradou 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 dugout24 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Abdelkader Bounedjah chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jan 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paradou can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Cruzeiro, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match8 Jan 2028
Whatever happens, Paradou do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Paradou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taha Yassine Tahar 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
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.
The terraces10 Jan 2028
At 22 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Amine Galou has come up in conversations Paradou were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match8 Jan 2028
A 1‑0 win over USM Alger, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Jun 2027
Paradou say no — this time
The offer from MC Alger for Ben Ahmed Kohili 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Paradou may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Toufik Moussaoui 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Imad Reguieg and Paradou agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aswan have kept their man, and Paradou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I watch every Paradou game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ES Setif runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Smouha 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.