Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobi Alagbe 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.76, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Marked 6.76 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chijindu Godwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Paul Mhlanga has written the date down.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El-Kanemi Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ismail Mukhtar is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chijindu Godwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El-Kanemi Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Risilanu Ismail and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobi Alagbe 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Risilanu Ismail 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tobi Alagbe 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.
El-Kanemi Warriors ran out of time with Bendel Insurance. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. El-Kanemi Warriors know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobi Alagbe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mlada Boleslav have kept their man, and El-Kanemi Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every El-Kanemi Warriors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Remo Stars runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
El-Kanemi Warriors have made the call to Remo Stars. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than David Damboama
Niger Tornadoes will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. El-Kanemi Warriors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Risilanu Ismail and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monopoli have kept their man, and El-Kanemi Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Risilanu Ismail did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Waliu Ojetoye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and 0 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ismail Mukhtar is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobi Alagbe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and 5 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wilfred Onyekuru after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobi Alagbe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ismail Mukhtar. 2‑0 against Ikorodu City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.52, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and 5 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Sadiq Adams, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Waliu Ojetoye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Shooting Stars; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. El-Kanemi Warriors will try not to make too much of it.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Emmanuel Nwabufo knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I did not go to Zeleznicar Pancevo to sit and watch. I want to come back to El-Kanemi Warriors and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El-Kanemi Warriors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tobi Alagbe 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Emmanuel Jonas 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.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and 4 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThankgod Ikeagwu is still being punished for one mistake
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El-Kanemi Warriors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Waliu Ojetoye 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.
Remo Stars left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Wilfred Onyekuru left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thankgod Ikeagwu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El-Kanemi Warriors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Paul Mhlanga has just signed for El-Kanemi Warriors, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Yahaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer from Bentonit Ijevan for Zakka John 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.
The deal with Rivers United 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tobi Alagbe 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.
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Plateau United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
El-Kanemi Warriors have made the call to Bendel Insurance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
151 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El-Kanemi Warriors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Waliu Ojetoye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Yahaya 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Muhammed Usman is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobi Alagbe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors 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.
In brief
The dugoutYakubu Abbas asks for a word with the manager
Tobi Alagbe 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 Sep 2026
Waliu Ojetoye 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emmanuel Jonas. 2‑0 against Shooting Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Wilfred Onyekuru could afford to be generous.
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors 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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. El-Kanemi Warriors have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Waliu Ojetoye 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 Sep 2026
Tobi Alagbe 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.
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. El-Kanemi Warriors will try again when the window opens; Shooting Stars may not be selling by then.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Usman Abubakar and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 3 years.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Shooting Stars are out and El-Kanemi Warriors go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$250.0K settles it between the clubs for Ganiyu Wasiu
Shooting Stars have accepted the money. What El-Kanemi Warriors do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and El-Kanemi Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Waliu Ojetoye 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Zakka John 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Usman Abubakar and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 3 years.
In brief
Player ratingsYakubu Abbas misses from twelve yards
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PK-35 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tosin Olawale did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deal with Ikorodu City 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tobi Alagbe and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Waliu Ojetoye 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kelvin Osas. 3‑1 against Nasarawa United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobi Alagbe 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Kelvin Osas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Waliu Ojetoye is living that version at El-Kanemi Warriors, and it tends to show in the first month.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Risilanu Ismail, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
7.34, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The offer from Wikki Tourists for Usman Abubakar 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bakura Jibrin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El-Kanemi Warriors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Shooting Stars will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Gbolagade Adelowo has pre-agreed a move to El-Kanemi Warriors, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Waliu Ojetoye 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.