Marked for João Rijo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Apr 2036
Lautaro Gutiérrez damages knee ligaments — 124 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
Market7 Apr 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout7 Apr 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Racing Genk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Apr 2036
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Víctor Muñoz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ederson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
RWDM will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Andreson Semedo has pre-agreed a move to Racing Genk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Market7 Apr 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Racing Genk, another week without a signature from Ederson.
The dugout7 Apr 2036
The manager makes an example of João Rijo
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Kevin Gadellaa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Gadellaa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Genk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Ederson 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.
Market31 Mar 2036
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Genk heard it as anything else.
Squad31 Mar 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thierry Small and Racing Genk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Gadellaa, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
A promise honoured for Rafel Bauzà
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Rafel Bauzà something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch31 Mar 2036
Jack Wint’s loan is measured in nothing happening
10 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Bournemouth. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Market31 Mar 2036
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Lontani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Feb 2036
Sint-Truiden will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Genk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market25 Feb 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.53, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match23 Feb 2036
Still nobody has beaten Racing Genk
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market25 Feb 2036
Only the photograph left for Simone Lontani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simone Lontani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Genk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Víctor Muñoz 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.
Boardroom25 Feb 2036
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gautier Guéguen 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ederson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Feb 2036
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. João Rijo wants continental football; whether Racing Genk can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Dec 2035
3‑0, and Rafel Bauzà took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Racing Genk tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market24 Dec 2035
Yaimar Medina has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match24 Dec 2035
Racing Genk are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
A defender's goal wins it for Racing Genk — 7.98
1 for Rafel Bauzà, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Ederson 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 Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Dec 2035
Terry Van De Ven wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Racing Genk hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market24 Dec 2035
João Rijo has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Samed Baždar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Oct 2035
20 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market22 Oct 2035
Only the photograph left for Eivind Helland
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eivind Helland will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Genk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Ederson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Oct 2035
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Racing Genk have 3 straight wins of it.
Match20 Oct 2035
It finished 1‑0, and it was Samed Baždar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Racing Genk.
Market22 Oct 2035
João Rijo wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Oct 2035
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Samed Baždar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
In brief
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Squad
Grant Ranos falls out with a teammate over standards
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The dugout
Amar Fatah gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Aug 2034
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Legia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Aug 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Legia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout7 Aug 2034
Álex Marchal: 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.” Legia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market7 Aug 2034
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Arka Gdynia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Aug 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Legia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Aug 2034
Luca Chierico 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 Legia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Aug 2034
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.86 for the rest of it.
Squad7 Aug 2034
Tempers go at Legia
Manu 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 Aug 2034
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Legia know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jul 2034
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Legia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Jul 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Legia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Jul 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Legia can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jul 2034
Only the photograph left for João Rijo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. João Rijo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Legia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market10 Jul 2034
Legia say no — this time
The offer from Radnicki 1923 for Wojciech Mońka 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.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Álex Marchal 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 Legia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2034
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Martin Minchev
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Legia will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Go Ahead Eagles have kept their man, and Legia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Jul 2034
No hiding place for João Rijo
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Rijo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jun 2034
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Legia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jun 2034
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kamil Piątkowski had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market12 Jun 2034
Only the photograph left for João Rijo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. João Rijo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Legia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market12 Jun 2034
“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 Legia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Raków Częstochowa is saying, and nobody at Legia is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom12 Jun 2034
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Raekwan Nelson 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.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Tempers go at Legia
Manu 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2034
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ismael Sierra has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Legia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
Legia asked and Wisla Krakow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jun 2034
Hugo Félix 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 Legia can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jun 2034
The bid was some way short and Legia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match5 Jun 2034
Legia refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 75 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.
Market5 Jun 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Legia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
The deal with Cracovia 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.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Words exchanged at Legia
Manu 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.
Market5 Jun 2034
João Rijo wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Legia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad5 Jun 2034
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Legia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Raków Częstochowa have kept their man, and Legia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom29 May 2034
Legia are in Europe
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad29 May 2034
The season belongs to Hugo Félix
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Legia have had the benefit of it.
Market29 May 2034
José Melro has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Legia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout29 May 2034
This is not rotation. Filip Čuić has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Legia is pretending otherwise.
Market29 May 2034
Gustav Grubbe comes back from a loan that worked
34 appearances and 1 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad29 May 2034
José Melro 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 Legia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market29 May 2034
Legia have let the market know Bernardo Vital can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout29 May 2034
The manager makes an example of Raekwan Nelson
“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.
Market29 May 2034
“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
Steady
The dugout22 May 2034
Álvaro Martínez: 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.” Legia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 May 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Legia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 May 2034
Words exchanged at Legia
Saad El Haddad 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 dugout22 May 2034
When it matters, Hugo Félix 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.
Squad22 May 2034
A row about effort at Legia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitalii Katrych was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market22 May 2034
The name of Ottó Hindrich keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Legia say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch22 May 2034
34 starts and an average of 6.78. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Market22 May 2034
The clock does João Rijo’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Legia could ask drops and the wages João Rijo can ask rise.
The dugout22 May 2034
Raekwan Nelson 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.