Marked for Mathis Saka
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Toulouse FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Toulouse FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
Still no name above the door at Toulouse FC
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Mitchel Bakker 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamine Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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 Toulouse FC know it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Jacques Siwe
“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.
Match7 Apr 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch9 Apr 2029
“I watch every Toulouse FC game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rodez AF runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Market
Lamine Camara linked with a move away
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The dugout
Victor Orakpo knocks on the manager’s door
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Apr 2029
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodez AF lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taïryk Arconte and Rodez AF agree another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Rodez AF
Anthony Rouault 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 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Rodez AF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rémy Labeau Lascary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Apr 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Jordan Mendes 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 Jordan Mendes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Mathis Saka gets it from the manager
“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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Samy Benchamma has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rodez AF 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rémy Labeau Lascary signs something — a contract at Rodez AF or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Mar 2029
Anthony Rouault 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
Still nobody has beaten Rodez AF
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Rémy Labeau Lascary 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Hermann Tebily
“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.
Match10 Mar 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Quentin Braat has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rodez AF 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 dugout12 Mar 2029
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad12 Mar 2029
One booking too many, and Alexis Trouillet sits out. Rodez AF lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
A promise honoured at Rodez AF
Something was said to Mathis Saka and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Market8 Jan 2029
Rodez AF say no — this time
The offer from USM Alger for Dee-Shawn Jacinthe 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
5 matches without a win for Rodez AF
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Rodez AF are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
The deal with Toulouse FC 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Rodez AF
Anthony Rouault 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Rodez AF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rémy Labeau Lascary 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 targets8 Jan 2029
Rodez AF asked and AS Saint-Etienne said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Mohamed Achi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodez AF is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Toulouse FC's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Toulouse FC has to find a result from somewhere.
Market6 Nov 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 Toulouse FC can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Nov 2028
5 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gaëtan Bakhouche will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toulouse FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Mitchel Bakker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market6 Nov 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yacine Titraoui wants continental football; whether Toulouse FC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamine Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Mathis Saka reaches 100 appearances
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Frank Magri
“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
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Toulouse FC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yann Gboho had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Toulouse FC have done the hard part with Monaco, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$33.5M was the most the club would pay and LOSC Lille were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market12 Jun 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Toulouse FC have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Toulouse FC asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Jun 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 Toulouse FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Kjetil Haug 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 Toulouse FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Apr 2028
Mathis Saka 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 Toulouse FC can pretend not to have heard.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
16 shut-outs in 34 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Mathys Niflore has been having a lot of them.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Anis Soubeir arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Anis Soubeir has, at Toulouse FC, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Toulouse FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibril Sidibé 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Kjetil Haug 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 Toulouse FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market17 Apr 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Dec 2027
Stade Rennais ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market27 Dec 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Kjetil Haug is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kjetil Haug: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 7.64 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Cristian Cásseres 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibril Sidibé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
At 21 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“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 Toulouse FC know it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
Charlie Cresswell and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibril Sidibé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Too much change too quickly at Toulouse FC
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Yann Gboho may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Toulouse FC, another week without a signature from Mathis Saka.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Niklas Schmidt 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 Niklas Schmidt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
Mathys Niflore’s loan is measured in nothing happening
4 clean sheets from 8 appearances at Sepsi OSK. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Alexandre Mendy 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.