Marked for Leon Myrtaj
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Dec 2031
The knee: Marco Lund out for 109 days
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Debrecen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match29 Nov 2031
Debrecen march on in the cup
Ujpest are out and Debrecen go through, 0‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match26 Nov 2031
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Leon Myrtaj obliged against Ujpest. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Debrecen.
Match26 Nov 2031
Debrecen win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 110th minute. Ujpest will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad1 Dec 2031
35 days out for Roland Bese after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Debrecen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Đorđe Gordić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Wesley Pomba 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 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Debrecen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Liedniev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces1 Dec 2031
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 Aug 2031
Debrecen march on in the cup
Haladas are out and Debrecen go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match30 Aug 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Puskas Akademia, and it could have been more.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
A brace, and Andras Kleinheisler takes the afternoon — 9.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andras Kleinheisler provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
A brace, and Leon Myrtaj takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leon Myrtaj provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market1 Sep 2031
“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 Debrecen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Debrecen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 24 in, 16 out at Debrecen
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
The paperwork begins on Ethan Gold
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Debrecen have done the hard part with Dinamo Bucharest, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Aug 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Debrecen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Everything agreed with Ferencvaros, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bálint Komáromi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Wesley Pomba in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Leon Myrtaj is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Alessandro Di Nunzio has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market18 Aug 2031
The phone has started ringing about Đorđe Kukolj again, and this time the name on the line is Ujpest. Debrecen are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad18 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Debrecen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Liedniev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Honved; Debrecen go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Market21 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Debrecen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Víctor Camarasa 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Leon Myrtaj is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Wesley Pomba 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 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ahrobiznes have kept their man, and Debrecen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Alessandro Di Nunzio has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan move for Platon Matiukov is in the works
Debrecen have made the call to Racing Genk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to Athletic Bilbao: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Nov 2030
Cup progress for Debrecen
A 0‑0 win over Ujpest, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match27 Nov 2030
Debrecen through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Ujpest, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Mate Orban, 18, steals the show — 7.78
Marked 7.78 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad2 Dec 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Endre Botka commits to Debrecen for another 2 years.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Đorđe Gordić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Debrecen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wesley Pomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces2 Dec 2030
He is 22 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.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
Endre Botka gets it from the manager
“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.