90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KAA Gent lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moctar Diop. 1‑0 against Lokeren, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑5 against Real Madrid, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adnan Januzaj 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 Joel Ordóñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
16 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Sabir Bougrine will call it something else in private.
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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KAA Gent lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑2 against Mainz 05. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Momodou Sonko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. KAA Gent scored in the 100th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Mituljikić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.80, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Successful dribbles: 44. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
0‑1 against Lugano, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adnan Januzaj 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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Max Dean decided otherwise. KV Kortrijk had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Youssef Belammari 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Moctar Diop will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent 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.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Adnan Januzaj 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Aimé Omgba 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.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAA Gent will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑3 against Real Madrid, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
0‑1 against Paris Saint-Germain, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Samuel Gigot damages knee ligaments — 134 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 134 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Moctar Diop will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adnan Januzaj 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.
KAA Gent ran out of time with Racing Genk. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Ordóñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marley Aké wants continental football; whether KAA Gent can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. KAA Gent will try again when the window opens; Racing Genk may not be selling by then.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAA Gent people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Westerlo will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The clubs have shaken hands with Racing Genk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent 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.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
KAA Gent and Racing Genk have settled on $2.2M. 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.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Up for the corner, and László Bénes delivers — 7.99
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. László Bénes scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Momodou Sonko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAA Gent will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
A brace, and Moctar Diop takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Moctar Diop provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 23 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.
OH Leuven paid $930.0K and KAA Gent took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Anderlecht will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Moussa Sissoko has pre-agreed a move to KAA Gent, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
KAA Gent and Racing Genk have settled on $2.2M. 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAA Gent have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Adnan Januzaj 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Joel Ordóñez 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether KAA Gent can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAA Gent know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KAA Gent have done the hard part with PSV, 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohammed El Âdfaoui is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Joel Ordóñez has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAA Gent have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Anderlecht for Momodou Sonko 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.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Núrio 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernard Nguene is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kjell Peersman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him 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 KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Adnan Januzaj 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Moctar Diop has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ferris N'Goma has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means KAA Gent have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hyllarion Goore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. David Barrero has agreed terms with KV Mechelen for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Sampson Dweh 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KAA Gent are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bachir Ngom will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 dugout16 Apr 2029
Sampson Dweh is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Sampson Dweh is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moctar Diop trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Samuel Gigot has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Day 39 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Sampson Dweh 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Redouan El Yaakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Ordóñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moctar Diop trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Romelu De Ketelaere has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The offer from KV Kortrijk for Bachir Ngom 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.
Sampson Dweh 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
8 matches without defeat, and then Racing Genk. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Joel Ordóñez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siebe Van der Heyden was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Redouan El Yaakoubi 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.
Sampson Dweh 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Redouan El Yaakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siebe Van der Heyden was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sampson Dweh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Joel Ordóñez 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Aimé Omgba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Position 13, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Moctar Diop is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KAA Gent can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Romelu De Ketelaere after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMoctar Diop knocks on the manager's door
Looking aheadKAA Gent take on the side everybody is chasing
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sampson Dweh 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zinho Vanheusden trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0‑3 to Anderlecht, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siebe Van der Heyden was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KAA Gent lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Zinho Vanheusden wants continental football; whether KAA Gent can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Sampson Dweh 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siebe Van der Heyden 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michy Januzaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KAA Gent can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAA Gent people have started saying his name in the past tense.
KAA Gent and Charleroi have settled on $1.5M. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Ilaimaharitra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernard Nguene is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Sampson Dweh 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.
At 33 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Youssef Belammari had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAA Gent have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Ilaimaharitra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sampson Dweh wants continental football; whether KAA Gent can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Sampson Dweh 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 Adnan Januzaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sint-Truiden; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Anderlecht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
Sampson Dweh 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.
Youssef Belammari 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 Adnan Januzaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Abdelkahar Kadri is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moctar Diop trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joel Ordóñez signs something — a contract at KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Standard Liege, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Standard Liege. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Standard Liege would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Standard Liege that is a harder question to answer.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Dimitri Lavalée plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Position 10, 37 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. the manager has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Standard Liege is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Lucas Digne is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Standard Liege. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adnan Januzaj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kjell Peersman 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and KAA Gent know it.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Godoy Cruz continues; the message travels home.
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 Abdelkahar Kadri is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAdnan Januzaj without the man who signed him
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Standard Liege they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mamadou Diakhon 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.
Boli Bolingoli has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.