42 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
LOSC Lille are out and Olympique de Marseille go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kieran Morrison will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“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 The request is on a desk at Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
Warren Zaïre-Emery 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Olympique de Marseille can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 The request is on a desk at Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everybody at Olympique de Marseille saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Kelian Baruti Liamba 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.
Nobody at Olympique de Marseille 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thomás De Martis 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 Warren Zaïre-Emery signs something — a contract at Olympique de Marseille or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
41 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Endrick provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ajdin Muminovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Endrick. 2‑0 against OGC Nice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Up for the corner, and Malcolm Jeng delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Malcolm Jeng scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
27 appearances at OGC Nice and the goals have stopped going in. Olympique de Marseille lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Endrick wants continental football; whether Olympique de Marseille can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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 Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.92, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” CJ Egan-Riley and Olympique de Marseille agree another 2 years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Dunne will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
Position 2, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dastan Sätpayev. 2‑0 against Stade Rennais, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
25 appearances at OGC Nice and the goals have stopped going in. Olympique de Marseille lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
In brief
Player ratingsJesús Rodríguez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Montpellier HSC for Thomás De Martis 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Endrick provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dastan Sätpayev provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Olympique de Marseille 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 Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Lucas Michal deal
35 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
Olympique de Marseille asked and OGC Nice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Olympique de Marseille hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
FC Lorient will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Olympique de Marseille were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jesús Rodríguez provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
31 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Stade Brestois will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Olympique de Marseille were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 9.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Olympique de Marseille.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Olympique de Marseille have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ajdin Muminovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille 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 Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over AS Saint-Etienne, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.35, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Olympique de Marseille can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
30 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olympique de Marseille may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pierre Mounguengue will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kieran Morrison and Olympique de Marseille agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
29 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
US Boulogne are out and Olympique de Marseille go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 16 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Endrick provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ajdin Muminovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
28 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
15 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ajdin Muminovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Thomás De Martis 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pierre Mounguengue was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Warren Zaïre-Emery signs something — a contract at Olympique de Marseille or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Endrick provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pierre Mounguengue will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille 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 Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Endrick. 3‑1 against Stade de Reims, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
26 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique de Marseille lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Warren Zaïre-Emery 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.
Marked 8.58 — 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Olympique de Marseille can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique de Marseille lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Olympique de Marseille people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thomás De Martis 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.
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.
2‑1 against Olympique Lyonnais, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olympique de Marseille lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Toulouse FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Olympique de Marseille is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $3.1M of what Olympique de Marseille paid for João Pereira is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olympique de Marseille lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Olympique de Marseille and Charlton Athletic have settled on $9.4M. 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Olympique de Marseille people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Olympique de Marseille asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mathys Silistrie had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Warren Zaïre-Emery 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Olympique de Marseille people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Olympique de Marseille asked and Fulham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
Olympique de Marseille have gone to FC Lorient with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympique de Marseille heard it as anything else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mathys Silistrie has, at Olympique de Marseille, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Hidalgo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Olympique de Marseille have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Olympique de Marseille have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Olympique de Marseille can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Hidalgo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
3‑2 against Paris Saint-Germain, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Position 2 on 81 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Olympique de Marseille supporters have already started telling it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Warren Zaïre-Emery 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.
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Olympique de Marseille, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olympique de Marseille may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
CJ Egan-Riley 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.
“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 Olympique de Marseille know it.
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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. AS Saint-Etienne tried to reorganise, Olympique de Marseille did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Saïmon Bouabré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bahmed Deuff
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Olympique de Marseille are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ajdin Muminovic 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.
12 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.
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 Jesús Rodríguez is on 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 Olympique de Marseille, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Le Havre AC will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Olympique de Marseille were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. João Pereira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Warren Zaïre-Emery 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Hidalgo 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Le Havre AC spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.81 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympique de Marseille is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
CJ Egan-Riley 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Olympique de Marseille can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
In brief
Player ratingsSaïmon Bouabré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” LB Chateauroux had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Olympique de Marseille have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Thomás De Martis comes from Racing Club for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
The shirt still fits. Ferran Torres is back at Olympique de Marseille, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $106.2K of what Olympique de Marseille paid for Montassar Talbi is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olympique de Marseille may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
$27.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“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 Racing Club, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
He is going to Olympique de Marseille, the club has $27.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Club heard it as anything else.
Racing Club moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Interim Coach, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadNahuel Herrera falls out with a teammate over standards
Boardroom11 academy graduates step up at Racing Club
The dugoutRomán Vega back under a manager who knows him
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club 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.
The new man at Racing Club has worked with Román Vega before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Joao Grimaldo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
2‑0 on the night and the tie is theirs. Somebody else’s season ended in the same ninety minutes, which the celebrations at Racing Club are entitled to ignore.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Penarol have accepted the money. What Racing Club do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Libertad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
San Lorenzo did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $10.4M for Luther Mabunda, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luther Mabunda has just signed for Racing Club, and for once the answer mattered.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Racing Club had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
1‑0 does it. One match from everything the season was for — the largest morning a club can have without having actually won anything, and the one every supporter would take right now anyway.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Progreso waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Club lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Racing Club and San Lorenzo have settled on $10.4M. 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.
114 minutes played. Thomás De Martis found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Newell's Old Boys went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
River Plate did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $4.9M for Alessandro Nunziante, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
2‑1 on the night and the tie is theirs. Somebody else’s season ended in the same ninety minutes, which the celebrations at Racing Club are entitled to ignore.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Raffin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Club the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Thomás De Martis 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. Franco Watson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Club the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Racing Club hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“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.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Words at Racing Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Culasso 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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nahuel Ulariaga has his answer from Racing Club; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutGonzalo Morales has become a man the manager trusts
1‑4 to Tigre, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Club can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Racing Club hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club 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 Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
200 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Thomás De Martis had Racing Club level again within 2 minutes, and Tigre never got to play with a lead at all.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tigre; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Simón Prima’s exile
BoardroomNobody left the Racing Club dressing room in a hurry
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club 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 Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Words at Racing Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Misael Zalazar 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Daniel González 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.
A 2‑0 win over Argentinos Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
8.07. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thomás De Martis 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.
12 goals in 28 games at Dock Sud — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Racing Club updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Rosario Central scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Misael Zalazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Racing Club, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Racing Club hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentín Culasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lucio Ferrari has his answer from Racing Club; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Jaminton Campaz is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Club know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomás De Martis provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Julián Nuñez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Racing Club have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fénix waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
10 seasons and 312 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“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 Racing Club hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel González and Racing Club agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Joaquín Ojeda reports back to Racing Club with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Thomás De Martis 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Club have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Brown de Adrogué for Kerwin Vargas 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Club heard it as anything else.
Daniel González 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Club people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Deportivo Armenio had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Watson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Club the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Racing Club, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 Jul 2034
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Racing Club until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Club people have started saying his name 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 Racing Club can pretend not to have heard.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Excursionistas had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Ingolotti and Racing Club agree another 2 years.
Thomás De Martis 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.
“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 Racing Club know it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Club have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Estudiantes 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $5.1M has been paid because Mateo Seoane is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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 Racing Club know it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
SquadMisael Zalazar falls out with a teammate over standards
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Villa Dálmine waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Club is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with San Lorenzo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Betis this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Sporting Cristal for Lautaro Piola 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Club heard it as anything else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $518.7K — a club that wants Ramiro Passalacqua enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Racing Club offered $390.0K; Rosario Central said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alejo Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Club the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad22 May 2034
Words at Racing Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frederik Ihler 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.