Marked for Andrey David
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 May 2028
35 days out for Mehdi Boussaïd after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad29 May 2028
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Squad29 May 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AC Ajaccio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market29 May 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout29 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thibault Campanini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 May 2028
50 days out for Mehdi Boussaïd after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout15 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AC Ajaccio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas Borodine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 May 2028
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
The dugout15 May 2028
Stanis Idumbo gets picked when it counts
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Mehdi Boussaïd out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Mar 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 AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“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 AC Ajaccio know it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Yanis Gouider out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market24 Jan 2028
Alan Ríos puts it in writing
“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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with OGC Nice, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market24 Jan 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolas Borodine has agreed terms with Nimes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“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; AC Ajaccio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
Yanis Gouider breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The deal with FC Metz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with FC Metz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market17 Jan 2028
Andrey David hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A move Demba Samassa would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Demba Samassa is living that version at AC Ajaccio, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at AC Ajaccio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Nov 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Mouhamadou Sall 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AC Ajaccio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.