Leon Myrtaj

Striker - Debrecen
19 Aug 2032
Thursday
Process

Marked for Leon Myrtaj

311 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

12 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Đorđe Kukolj says Debrecen went back on their word

“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.

Transfer targets

Debrecen baulk at the price for Jan-Carlo Simić

Ferencvaros wanted more than $3.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

David Bese is a medical away from Debrecen

The deal with Ferencvaros 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Debrecen

Đorđe Gordić 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.

Squad

Adam Krejci is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.

Squad

Bohdan Liedniev 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.

Squad

A late step up for Leon Myrtaj

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Transfer targets

Debrecen try to borrow Sergio Pacheco

AVS 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Andras Kleinheisler 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.

In brief

Back issues
297 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

5 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Wesley Pomba 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 Debrecen can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Debrecen refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Víctor Camarasa stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Víctor Camarasa and Debrecen agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Debrecen

Wesley Pomba 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.

Squad

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Alessandro Di Nunzio

“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 dugout

Đorđe Gordić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Debrecen 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.

Squad

A step back for Dino Perić at Debrecen

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Market

No place for Leon Myrtaj in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Leon Myrtaj has his answer from Debrecen; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

279 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

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.

Match

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.

Match

Leon Myrtaj sends Debrecen through

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.

Match

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.

Squad

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 ratings

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Debrecen

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.

Squad

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 terraces

One of their own: Leon Myrtaj

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.

In brief

266 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

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.

Match

Debrecen tear Puskas Akademia apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Puskas Akademia, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Wesley Pomba scores twice — 9.62

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 ratings

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 ratings

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.

Market

Kristóf Lakatos puts it in writing

“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 dugout

Barnabás Simon keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Debrecen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Boardroom

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 targets

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.

In brief

264 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

18 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Bálint Komáromi is on his way

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 targets

Dénes Dibusz due for a Debrecen medical

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.

Boardroom

Debrecen to lose Bálint Komáromi for free

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

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.

Market

Eyes on Đorđe Kukolj again

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.

Squad

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 targets

Catania tell Debrecen: Niko Ivanković 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.

In brief

260 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Daniil Sukhoruchko’s move to Debrecen collapses on the table

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.

Market

Ákos Szendrei is on his way

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Debrecen

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

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 targets

Debrecen rebuffed over Francesco Cereser

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.

Squad

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 targets

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 targets

Debrecen ask about Biel Fuentes

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.

In brief

227 Edition

The Debrecen Gazette

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

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?

Match

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 ratings

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.

Squad

Endre Botka signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Endre Botka commits to Debrecen for another 2 years.

Squad

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.

Squad

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 ratings

Vladyslav Savitskiy beats them one at a time

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 terraces

One of their own: Leon Myrtaj

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 dugout

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.

In brief