Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Adel Taarabt has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Al Jazira know, and have known for weeks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Jazira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Al Jazira have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Jazira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ruan Renato is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Jazira know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Jazira can pretend not to have heard.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Jazira know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadAdel Taarabt looks at the other side of the line
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Al Jazira that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Jazira hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
A new face in his position, and Willyan Rocha suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al Jazira have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Jazira know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Jazira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Jazira have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A season-long audition: Corinthians still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Al Jazira's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ali Khaseif knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
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.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Mamadou Ndiaye, 19 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.