Rafael

Central Defender - Irtysh
6 Aug 2027
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Marked for Rafael

35 Edition

The Irtysh Herald

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad29 Mar 2027

Real improvement from Rafael at Irtysh

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rafael is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad29 Mar 2027

André Krobel wants to go home

“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 Irtysh know it.

Squad29 Mar 2027

Jamshid Boltaboev falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout29 Mar 2027

The manager makes an example of Ensar Brahić

“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.

The dugout29 Mar 2027

When it matters, Bauyrzhan Islamkhan plays

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.

Looking ahead29 Mar 2027

Karim Smykov goes back to face Atyrau

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Karim Smykov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Irtysh needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

Back issues
28 Edition

The Irtysh Herald

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets8 Feb 2027

Egor Tkachenko will not be coming to Irtysh

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atyrau is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.

Squad8 Feb 2027

Marezi arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marezi has, at Irtysh, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad8 Feb 2027

Jamshid Boltaboev 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.

Transfer targets8 Feb 2027

Astana tell Irtysh: Karlo Bartolec is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout8 Feb 2027

The manager makes an example of Karam Sūltanov

“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.

Squad8 Feb 2027

Too much change too quickly at Irtysh

7 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.

Transfer targets8 Feb 2027

Irtysh ask about Nikita Kireev

A loan enquiry to Dinamo Vologda: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets8 Feb 2027

Irtysh try to borrow Dmytro Topalov

Aktobe have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Market8 Feb 2027

Irtysh sign Lucas Berrutti, one for the future

Lucas Berrutti is 20, and Irtysh 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.

In brief