Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LOSC Lille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 LOSC Lille hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 Victor Froholdt is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LOSC Lille 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 Mário Sauer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Olympique Lyonnais next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maxima Goffi has his answer from LOSC Lille; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
22 appearances at FC Rouen and the goals have stopped going in. LOSC Lille lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around LOSC Lille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 LOSC Lille know it.
Mário Sauer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Paris Brunner 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.
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 Victor Froholdt is on it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Thanasis Tzolis could afford to be generous.
The offer from Patriotas for Jeyland Mitchell 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.
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 7.77 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxima Goffi 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 Karim Konaté is on it.
1‑1 against Sturm Graz, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Paris Brunner was at the centre of the description.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Konstantin Tyukavin provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” LOSC Lille have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kévin Danois 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.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Paris Brunner was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Thomas Sivok was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3‑0 against Levski, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
0‑3 against Olympique Lyonnais, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what LOSC Lille can pretend not to have heard.
Paris Brunner 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.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
The deal that would have taken David Zima to LB Chateauroux has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to LOSC Lille with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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; LOSC Lille are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Paris Brunner 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.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at LOSC Lille 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maxima Goffi has his answer from LOSC Lille; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at LOSC Lille, another week without a signature from Bastien Meupiyou.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Pagani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around LOSC Lille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 LOSC Lille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Karim Konaté is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at LOSC Lille has been clear about where Kaïl Boudache stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at LOSC Lille, and both men came out saying it was fine.
6 shut-outs in 29 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Nikita Yanovich has been having a lot of them.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. LOSC Lille lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni Reyna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Karim Konaté’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to LOSC Lille.
Player ratings30 Apr 2035
Giovanni Reyna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LOSC Lille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. LOSC Lille lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kaïl Boudache 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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Words at LOSC Lille training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Reyna 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maxima Goffi wants continental football; whether LOSC Lille can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Nobody at LOSC Lille 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thanasis Tzolis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. LOSC Lille lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Paris FC for Stephan Zagadou 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and David Zima reports back to LOSC Lille with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LOSC Lille 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 Giovanni Reyna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at LOSC Lille heard it as anything else.
Mohammed Salisu 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the LOSC Lille dressing room in a hurry
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. LOSC Lille lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LOSC Lille have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $141.1K of what LOSC Lille paid for Miles Leaburn is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
LOSC Lille close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 8 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at LOSC Lille heard it as anything else.
The phone has started ringing about Stephan Zagadou again, and this time the name on the line is Paris FC. LOSC Lille are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Words at LOSC Lille training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pathé Mboup 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karim Konaté. 1‑0 against FC Metz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yacine Chaib will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
LOSC Lille paid $2.2M and RC Strasbourg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
21 appearances at Clermont Foot and the goals have stopped going in. RC Strasbourg lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
In brief
SquadMirko Juárez falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lucas Puchetta
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
1‑4 to SC Bastia, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enzo Mayilla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Maxima Goffi 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.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
0‑3 against ESTAC Troyes, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RC Strasbourg can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Diego Perdomo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mahamoud Barry 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.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maxima Goffi 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.
Mahamoud Barry 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. Tomas Stanek has just signed for RC Strasbourg, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Words at RC Strasbourg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxima Goffi 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.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yacine Chaib will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; RC Strasbourg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Robert Filip 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksander Iwańczyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mahamoud Barry 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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at RC Strasbourg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxima Goffi 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. RC Strasbourg told Kayque something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at RC Strasbourg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxima Goffi 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.
Liam Gibbs 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee RC Strasbourg could ask drops and the wages Radosław Majecki can ask rise.
Loan watch20 Nov 2034
Mihai Răcăşan’s loan is measured in nothing happening
7 clean sheets from 14 appearances at Clermont Foot. 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg 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 Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Johannes Jepsen is living that version at RC Strasbourg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Maxima Goffi 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. RC Strasbourg told Thalys something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad6 Nov 2034
A place in the month's best eleven for Justin Gakpo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Justin Gakpo has come out of that comparison in the side, and RC Strasbourg have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at RC Strasbourg can tell you which week it ends in.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mirko Juárez wants continental football; whether RC Strasbourg can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
Angers SCO will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Daniel Job has pre-agreed a move to RC Strasbourg, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mahamoud Barry 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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Maxima Goffi 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑1 to Toulouse FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mahamoud Barry and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at RC Strasbourg, another week without a signature from Daniel Cox.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at RC Strasbourg has been clear about where Kenzo Noël stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. RC Strasbourg will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RC Strasbourg can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Yacine Chaib 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.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Words at RC Strasbourg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxima Goffi 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.
Robert Filip 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. RC Strasbourg will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — the manager made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zaid Osman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mahamoud Barry 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 Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“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 RC Strasbourg will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThalys is playing like a man with something to prove
“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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
RC Strasbourg asked and Stade Rennais 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 RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 6.69 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. RC Strasbourg will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. RC Strasbourg will try again when the window opens; AS Saint-Etienne may not be selling by then.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Maxima Goffi 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Sirak Samson Bein has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means RC Strasbourg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade de Reims have kept their man, and RC Strasbourg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Tousart and RC Strasbourg agree another 2 years.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. RC Strasbourg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Montpellier HSC had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with AS Saint-Etienne 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.
“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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
RC Strasbourg close the window on a squad of their own making
31 in and 38 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.
RC Strasbourg offered $2.0M; Angers SCO 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason RC Strasbourg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Olympique Lyonnais wanted more than $4.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
RC Strasbourg asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fathy Mohsen 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.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
12 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Clermont Foot people have started saying his name in the past tense.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Paul Meunier is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with AJ Auxerre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naël Moussa 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rémi Dubois 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. RC Strasbourg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. RC Strasbourg have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining 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 RC Strasbourg can pretend not to have heard.
Angers SCO have accepted the money. What RC Strasbourg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from SM Caen for Enzo Mayilla 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.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$88.0K was the most the club would pay and Olympique Lyonnais were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SM Caen have kept their man, and RC Strasbourg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason RC Strasbourg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer went to Angers SCO 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Fathy Mohsen 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.
The offer went to Olympique Lyonnais 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.
Squad7 Aug 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. RC Strasbourg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Maxima Goffi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” RC Strasbourg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about Enzo Mayilla again, and this time the name on the line is SM Caen. RC Strasbourg are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Jul 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason RC Strasbourg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RC Strasbourg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Angers SCO have accepted the money. What RC Strasbourg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
RC Strasbourg offered $4.3M; Olympique Lyonnais 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.
Tiago Morais 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.
RC Strasbourg have gone to Olympique Lyonnais 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RC Strasbourg people have started saying his name in the past tense.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Strasbourg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
AS Saint-Etienne have accepted the money. What RC Strasbourg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$4.3M on the table at Olympique Lyonnais. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from Stade Brestois for Enzo Mayilla 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Juul Timmermans 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.
Olympique Lyonnais wanted more than $88.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
In brief
SquadWords at RC Strasbourg training over how hard people work
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Strasbourg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.7M on the table at Angers SCO. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fathy Mohsen 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.
The offer went to Olympique Lyonnais 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.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Strasbourg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RC Strasbourg they have already started talking about him 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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Justin Gakpo is living that version at RC Strasbourg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Add another name to the list: Quevilly-Rouen have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maxima Goffi. The answer from RC Strasbourg has not changed — yet.
RC Strasbourg asked and Angers SCO said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deal with Paris Saint-Germain 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.
Fathy Mohsen 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 words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RC Strasbourg can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Angers SCO 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.
$88.0K on the table at Olympique Lyonnais. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxima Goffi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RC Strasbourg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RC Strasbourg can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh Briggs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RC Strasbourg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
RC Strasbourg offered $88.0K; Olympique Lyonnais 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.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
RC Strasbourg asked and Monaco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stade Lavallois waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
RC Strasbourg asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
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 Annecy paid $1.1M and RC Strasbourg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Maxima Goffi 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RC Strasbourg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from ESTAC Troyes for Diogo Sousa 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 RC Strasbourg, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Maxima Goffi has come up in conversations RC Strasbourg were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deal with Olympique Lyonnais 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RC Strasbourg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Enzo Mayilla has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at RC Strasbourg is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Words at RC Strasbourg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diogo Sousa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diogo Sousa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Robert Filip 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.
28 games, 3 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at RC Strasbourg now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
14 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 Oleh Kryvoruchko 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 RC Strasbourg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee RC Strasbourg could ask drops and the wages Fathy Mohsen can ask rise.