Marked for Wael Debbiche
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Esteghlal Ahvaz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The paperwork begins on Luka Sušanj
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naft Tehran have done the hard part with Rah Ahan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market19 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done: Kaveh Ghoddos joins from Padideh in a deal worth $4.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Naft Tehran asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Sardar Taremi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Aran Kochar 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amir Jahanbakhsh and Naft Tehran agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Jun 2028
No place for Wael Debbiche in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Naft Tehran are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Kaveh Ghoddos knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Naft Tehran sell a favourite for $760.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ahmad Savari was one of the reasons people came, and $760.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naft Tehran have done the hard part with Padideh, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zob Ahan have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market12 Jun 2028
Ahmad Savari has left for Foolad in a $760.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yousef Mazrae 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Sepahan: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wael Debbiche and Naft Tehran agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Naft Tehran are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The offer went to Barnsley 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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 FC Annecy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
Market16 Aug 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Illia Zabarnyi wants continental football; whether FC Annecy can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at FC Annecy
Abdel Hbouch 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
US Concarneau wanted more than $240.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at FC Annecy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Angers SCO have kept their man, and FC Annecy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
The chase for Idrissa Seydi ended with $3.0M changing hands and FC Rouen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market19 Jul 2027
Wael Debbiche hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Annecy can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
The chase for Mohamed Abdallah ended with $1.1M changing hands and SC Aubagne Air Bel out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mohamed Abdallah has just signed for FC Annecy, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Florian Escales 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris FC have kept their man, and FC Annecy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at FC Annecy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Dabo 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.
Loan watch19 Jul 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FC Annecy, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. FC Annecy have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market21 Jun 2027
Wael Debbiche hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Annecy can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jun 2027
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Florian Escales 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Stade Brestois paid $400.0K and FC Annecy took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Illia Zabarnyi 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 targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade de Reims have kept their man, and FC Annecy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The formation has left Edwin Quarshie behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. FC Annecy will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.