“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
David Čolina 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 Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Inter Turku have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Barić. The answer from NK Osijek has not changed — yet.
“I watch every NK Osijek game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Segesta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at NK Osijek would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and NK Osijek have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Osijek. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Osijek is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ferland Mendy 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tonio Teklić 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.
“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 NK Osijek know it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and NK Osijek will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ivan Barić reports back to NK Osijek with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
David Čolina 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Imo Ikemdinachi is living that version at NK Osijek, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. NK Osijek will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Osijek, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Osijek. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dolomiti Bellunesi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Osijek is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 NK Osijek, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at NK Osijek 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Polissia have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. NK Osijek will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at NK Osijek has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
The dugoutDenis Popović knocks on the manager's door
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Botev Vratsa 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. NK Osijek have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Grasshopper is saying, and nobody at NK Osijek is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of David Mejía has come up in conversations NK Osijek were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Grasshopper 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Luzern keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
David Čolina 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ferland Mendy 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.
Add another name to the list: Botev Vratsa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Barić. The answer from NK Osijek has not changed — yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Osijek have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ferland Mendy 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Heister was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Čolina 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Osijek has been clear about where Luka Vrbančić stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikola Soldo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Osijek can pretend not to have heard.
David Čolina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Oskar Droździk is 20, and NK Osijek have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Ivan Barić is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and HNK Gorica were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Barić did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Mejía has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.6M has been paid because Antonio Erceg is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nikola Soldo is living that version at NK Osijek, and it tends to show in the first month.
David Čolina 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.
NK Osijek offered $360.0K; Slaven Belupo 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.
NK Varazdin paid $26.0K and NK Osijek took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
NK Osijek asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Anton Matković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yannick Touré. 1‑0 against HNK Vukovar 1991, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Matej Gagulić