Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Lahti they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Momodou Sarr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniel Riihilahti 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Amir Belabid is on it.
At 19 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at FC Lahti until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Romain Sans 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.
FC Lahti asked and Inter Turku said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Momodou Sarr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and FC Lahti know which stage they are at.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yohan Cassubie signs something — a contract at FC Lahti or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FC Lahti people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 FC Lahti, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Momodou Sarr 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 FC Lahti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. FC Lahti will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Lahti can pretend not to have heard.
Erik Andersson 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.
FC Lahti asked and Besa Kavajë said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at FC Lahti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Momodou Sarr 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.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at FC Lahti would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yohan Cassubie signs something — a contract at FC Lahti or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FC Lahti have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ilves keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Daniel Riihilahti 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.
FC Lahti have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Something was said to Tòfol Montiel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Tòfol Montiel 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Momodou Sarr 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 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 FC Lahti, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Momodou Sarr 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.
Daniel Riihilahti 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.
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.
Tòfol Montiel 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Momodou Sarr 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 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 FC Lahti, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at FC Lahti, another week without a signature from Justus Ojanen.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Lahti know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Topias Inkinen 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.
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 Amir Belabid is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and José Müller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aaron Lindholm is 22, 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 Momodou Sarr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Amir Belabid is on 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 FC Lahti, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Romain Sans 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.
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 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.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at FC Lahti and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Erik Pukki has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Lahti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tòfol Montiel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Oliver Helttunen obliged against KTP. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is FC Lahti.
107 minutes played. Oliver Helttunen found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and KTP went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
FC Lahti close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
FC Lahti asked and FF Jaro 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 FC Lahti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at FC Lahti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Momodou Sarr 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.