Marked for Dražen Jaman
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Aug 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ivan Barić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Marked 8.46 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market2 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Dražen Jaman
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dražen Jaman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Osijek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Stanislav Shopov 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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 terraces2 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Anton Matković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match31 Jul 2027
NK Osijek settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. NK Varazdin spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Tonio Teklić at his very best
Marked 8.35. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at NK Osijek.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at NK Osijek who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market5 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Dražen Jaman
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dražen Jaman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Osijek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
NK Osijek asked and Rudes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jona Ježić commits to NK Osijek for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Stanislav Shopov 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Maksym Pietrzak is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. NK Osijek have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Pescara: 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
Market21 Jun 2027
Bernardo 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 Cibalia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Petar Brlek pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Dino Matić is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Cibalia have gone to Rudes with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $59.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sibenik drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to HNK Gorica 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
No deal for Dražen Jaman at that price
Cibalia offered $130.0K; NK Osijek said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slaven Belupo have kept their man, and Cibalia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Cibalia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Šime Gržan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Osijek have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Ivan Barić: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: CFR Cluj have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ferland Mendy. The answer from NK Osijek has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The step up is real for Jona Ježić
At 18 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to HNK Gorica 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
NK Osijek say no — this time
The offer from Istra 1961 for Matej Gagulić 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Osijek is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at NK Osijek
Ferland Mendy 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
In brief
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Transfer targets
Door shut on Alerrandro
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Jona Ježić
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Squad
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 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 Cibalia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The offer went to Segesta 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The offer went to NK Osijek 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Cibalia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Šime Gržan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Petar Mišić
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Cibalia
Vinícius Cressi 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Tin Kovac clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Market7 Jun 2027
Partizan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and NK Osijek did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stanislav Shopov and NK Osijek agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Stanislav Shopov 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ujpest have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
news_h_severance_paid
news_b_severance_paid
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Denis Popović breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at NK Osijek
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at NK Osijek is running low.
Market26 Apr 2027
Vito Kovač has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Osijek they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Apr 2027
David Čolina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at NK Osijek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Denis Popović knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denis Popović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes Nikola Soldo a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Osijek. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emin Hasić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Dražen Jaman: “I am not a substitute”
“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 NK Osijek will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nikola Čurćija: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Grasshopper 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Luzern keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dražen Jaman and NK Osijek agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at NK Osijek
David Čolina 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ferland Mendy 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Botev Vratsa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Barić. The answer from NK Osijek has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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
Uneasy
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” NK Osijek may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Jan 2027
Pianese come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and NK Osijek did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The paperwork begins on Ivan Katić
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Osijek have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ferland Mendy 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Vrbančić, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maksym Pietrzak and NK Osijek agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at NK Osijek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Heister was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Bari 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.