Yves Mbappe

Striker - USM Alger
30 Nov 2031
Sunday
Process

Marked for Yves Mbappe

236 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Ben Ahmed Kohili is carrying ES Setif

39 goals and a season average of 8.14. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

ES Setif tear ES Ben Aknoun apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑2 against ES Ben Aknoun, and it could have been more.

Squad

A day Daniel Gnahoua will not forget

4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Market

Terms done: Houssem Tarzout is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MC El Bayadh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ES Setif is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Player ratings

Ben Ahmed Kohili scores twice — 10.00

Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

The view from the top for ES Setif

61 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

Balla Sangaré gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Balla Sangaré has just signed for ES Setif, and for once the answer mattered.

Match

The run at home goes on for ES Setif

14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

ES Setif make it 5 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now ES Setif have 5 straight wins of it.

In brief

Back issues
229 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Ben Ahmed Kohili is carrying ES Setif

25 goals and a season average of 7.79. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

No mercy from ES Setif

MB Rouissat will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. ES Setif were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

A day Ben Ahmed Kohili will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Nobody wants to play ES Setif right now

6 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.

Market

Osama Ahmed has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Setif they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The dugout

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Market

Yves Mbappe 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 ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Mutari Momoh says ES Setif 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.

Squad

Riad Benayad 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

225 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Mahamoud Metwaly damages knee ligaments — 38 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

A brace, and Daniel Gnahoua takes the afternoon — 9.02

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Gnahoua provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Only the photograph left for Osama Ahmed

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Osama Ahmed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Setif the goodbyes have quietly begun.

The dugout

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Market

Yves Mbappe 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 ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Ahmed Mrezigue says ES Setif 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.

Player ratings

Houssem Tarzout beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at ES Setif

Mahamoud Metwaly 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.

Match

Whatever happens, ES Setif do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

In brief

221 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Mahamoud Metwaly

66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ES Setif lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

5 goals for Ben Ahmed Kohili

The match ball belongs to Ben Ahmed Kohili, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

ES Setif tear ES Ben Aknoun apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑2 against ES Ben Aknoun, and it could have been more.

Market

Osama Ahmed is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Setif is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

6 saves: Abdelmoumen Sifour was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

The dugout

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Market

Yves Mbappe 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 ES Setif can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Mutari Momoh: 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.” ES Setif have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at ES Setif

Riad Benayad 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.

In brief

217 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

ES Setif run riot against USM Alger

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

Daniel Gnahoua takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Market

Osama Ahmed has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Setif they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Abdelmoumen Sifour keeps ES Setif in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

The dugout

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Market

Yves Mbappe 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 ES Setif can pretend not to have heard.

Match

ES Setif make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now ES Setif have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Jadsom 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Daniel Gnahoua

Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

201 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Merwane Khelif out for 32 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Setif will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

The knee: Nassim Benaceur out for 19 days

19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Setif lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

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Market

Ibrahim El Khalil Sebih 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 ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Adel Zeffane keeps the receipts

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

Market

Muhammed Alao has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Setif they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at ES Setif

Riad Benayad 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.

Market

MC Alger watching Mohamed Islam Abdelkader

The interest is real enough to have reached print. ES Setif have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Market

No place for Ahmed Ayman Mansour in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ahmed Ayman Mansour has his answer from ES Setif; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

196 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Merwane Khelif out for 67 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Setif will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Words exchanged at ES Setif

Riad Benayad 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.

Boardroom

ES Setif counting the cost

The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at ES Setif now.

Squad

Houssemeddine Ghacha 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.

The dugout

Manu Duah 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 Manu Duah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahim El Khalil Sebih

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim El Khalil Sebih, and the manager let it.

Market

The Jadsom story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jadsom signs something — a contract at ES Setif or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Mohamed Islam Abdelkader gets picked when it counts

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 Mohamed Islam Abdelkader is on it.

Market

The clock does Ahmed Ayman Mansour’s negotiating for him

3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee ES Setif could ask drops and the wages Ahmed Ayman Mansour can ask rise.

In brief

194 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

81 days out for Merwane Khelif after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Setif will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

ES Setif refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 62 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

Riad Benayad 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at ES Setif

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Houssemeddine Ghacha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

108% of the income goes out in wages at ES Setif

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Market

Yves Mbappe told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yves Mbappe has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at ES Setif.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mohamed Islam Abdelkader

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Islam Abdelkader, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Ahmed Ayman Mansour asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

No place for Mohamed Slimi in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ES Setif are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

In brief

186 Edition

The ES Setif Sentinel

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ben Ahmed Kohili is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.66 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

ES Setif tear ES Mostaganem apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against ES Mostaganem, and it could have been more.

Squad

3 goals for Jadsom

The match ball belongs to Jadsom, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

ES Setif are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 52 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Vintage Riad Benayad — 8.58

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.58, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Riad Benayad 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yves Mbappe arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yves Mbappe has, at ES Setif, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Player ratings

Abdelkader Belharrane 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: Houssem Tarzout

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