Millan Brignone

Central Midfielder - OH Leuven
8 Nov 2029
Thursday
Process

Marked for Millan Brignone

164 Edition

The OH Leuven Herald

17 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nothing got past Ewoud Pletinckx

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 33 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Squad

Millan Brignone: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Thibaud Verlinden 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Louis Verstraete takes the honours

Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, OH Leuven had the best player on the pitch.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Siebe Schrijvers

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi 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.

Player ratings

Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi leaves them behind him

Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Match

OH Leuven and Standard Liege cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Standard Liege came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Squad

Zayd El Kandoussi knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

Back issues
98 Edition

The OH Leuven Herald

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Thibaud Verlinden 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Paris Elmensdorp signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paris Elmensdorp commits to OH Leuven for another 4 years.

Market

Floriano Vanzo brings the grey hairs OH Leuven lacked

At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.

Market

OH Leuven bring in an old head

Joseba Zaldua is 37 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.

Squad

Óscar Gil asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Sory Kaba talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OH Leuven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

88 Edition

The OGC Nice Post

3 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Sofiane Diop is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.99 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Youssouf Ndayishimiye shuts the door

Defensive actions: 31, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Market

Jonathan Clauss raises the bar for OGC Nice

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at OGC Nice heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tempers go at OGC Nice

Sofiane Diop 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Sofiane Diop

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Gaëtan Perrin runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Sofiane Diop sends OGC Nice past FC Lorient

It finished 1‑0, and it was Sofiane Diop’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to OGC Nice.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Moustapha Mbow

“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.

Squad

Jonathan Clauss loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Jonathan Clauss. OGC Nice will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

In brief

80 Edition

The OGC Nice Post

7 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Sofiane Diop

11 goals and a season average of 7.87 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Robin Risser raises the bar for OGC Nice

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at OGC Nice heard it as anything else.

Player ratings

Hicham Boudaoui shuts the door

Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Sofiane Diop

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at OGC Nice

Sofiane Diop 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.

Player ratings

Mattia Viti shuts the door

Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Yehvann Diouf

“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.

Squad

Millan Brignone out for 33 days

The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Millan Brignone, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Loan watch

Zoumana Diallo has seen enough of Avellino

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at OGC Nice, and 5 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief