Jarne Flies 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 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: OH Leuven will make the call about Omar Sarr this week. RSCA Futures have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at RSCA Futures 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander De Ridder signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RSCA Futures can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RSCA Futures they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ibrahim Kanaté 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 Devon De Corte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at RSCA Futures 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Devon De Corte signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Ibrahim Kanaté keeps the shirt for now, at RSCA Futures's convenience rather than his own.
Position 15 and 31 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Ibrahim Kanaté 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amine Mahroug was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody at RSCA Futures 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RSCA Futures, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. RSCA Futures know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RSCA Futures is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Devon De Corte 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.
Timéo Ilunga-Tshiapidia 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.
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 Jarne Flies is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Justin Heekeren 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 Alexander De Ridder signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at RSCA Futures. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at RSCA Futures that is a harder question to answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RSCA Futures is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amine Mahroug 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.
Thomas Foket 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.
“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; RSCA Futures are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Alexander De Ridder 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 RSCA Futures, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Devon De Corte signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Mats Rits’s negotiating for him
SquadThe training reports on Anas Tajaouart are not good
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RSCA Futures can pretend not to have heard.
Devon De Corte 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nunzio Engwanda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Dries Chadli
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dries Chadli has come out of that comparison in the side, and RSCA Futures have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutJarne Flies asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” RSCA Futures have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RSCA Futures they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Devon De Corte 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amine Mahroug 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 done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one RSCA Futures will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RSCA Futures is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Devon De Corte signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at RSCA Futures. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The phone has started ringing about Joshua Nga Kana again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Mariehamn. RSCA Futures are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Babatunde Akomolede will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RSCA Futures the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nunzio Engwanda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joël Kana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RSCA Futures the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Nobody at RSCA Futures 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A RSCA Futures teenager takes the young player award
Alexander De Ridder 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RSCA Futures, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A mark of 8.10 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omar Sarr will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RSCA Futures 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 RSCA Futures this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Alexander De Ridder on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of RSCA Futures and Club NXT.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Amine Mahroug 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.
“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 RSCA Futures know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Axel Courtois after 3‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RSCA Futures lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at RSCA Futures can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zoumana Keita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RSCA Futures this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 RSCA Futures, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RSCA Futures is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal that would have taken Yuya Kubo to Cercle Brugge has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to RSCA Futures with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. RSCA Futures know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Hey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. RSCA Futures have lost him in all but the paperwork.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at RSCA Futures has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Jarne Flies, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Devon De Corte 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Lucas Hey 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.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon RSCA Futures had all but put away. Eupen will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“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 RSCA Futures know it.
Nobody at RSCA Futures 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RSCA Futures can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Hey 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RSCA Futures this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at RSCA Futures 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.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Hey 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.
Thomas Foket 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.
20 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Axel Courtois to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Anderlecht can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 19 gone
That is the business done at Anderlecht 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.
Enric Llansana 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.
Jordan Amavi arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Ilay Camara
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ilay Camara has come out of that comparison in the side, and Anderlecht have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joshua Nga Kana is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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 Danylo Sikan is on it.
$2.8M was the most the club would pay and KV Kortrijk 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Still no offer on the table, and Moussa Ndiaye’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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.
“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 Anderlecht will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Killian Sardella signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A season average of 6.55 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Anderlecht know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
$2.8M on the table at KV Kortrijk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
10 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Anderlecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Lucas Hey 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RSCA Futures can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cedric Hatenboer 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enzo Sternal signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at RSCA Futures that is a harder question to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” RSCA Futures 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.” Alexander De Ridder and RSCA Futures agree another 5 years.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrahim Kanaté signs something — a contract at RSCA Futures or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zoumana Keita did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexander De Ridder is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.06, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cedric Hatenboer 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: 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.
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.
“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 RSCA Futures, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexander De Ridder 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at RSCA Futures would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A side in position 3 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. RSCA Futures know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Thomas Foket 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Club NXT on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RSCA Futures this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Enzo Sternal 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.
“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; RSCA Futures are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 RSCA Futures will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
3 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Devon De Corte did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 20 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.
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.
A penalty is the one moment in football with nowhere to hide, and he did not score it. The walk back was long and the week will be longer.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Axel Courtois, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cedric Hatenboer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Zoumana Keita
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Zoumana Keita has come out of that comparison in the side, and RSCA Futures have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 Cedric Hatenboer is on 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 RSCA Futures will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
0‑1 to Beerschot, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Axel Courtois left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 RSCA Futures will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. RSCA Futures know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Gassimou Sylla, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. RSCA Futures know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at RSCA Futures training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Kanaté 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 easiest signature of my career.” Alexander De Ridder and RSCA Futures agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A 1‑1 draw with Waasland-Beveren leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Axel Courtois was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the RSCA Futures dressing room was either.
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.
Something was said to Thomas Foket and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. RSCA Futures know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Alexander De Ridder 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.
In brief
The dugoutKaïs Barry asks for a word with the manager
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Axel Courtois to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. RSCA Futures told Mats Rits something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 RSCA Futures, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Eupen for Ali Maamar 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Amine Mahroug, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where RSCA Futures would like this to lead.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The name of Mats Rits has come up in conversations RSCA Futures were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Gassimou Sylla and RSCA Futures agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at RSCA Futures is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.