From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market22 Jul 2030
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AJ Auxerre will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad22 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Marino Illescas
“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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Herba Guirassy knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jul 2030
“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.
Market15 Jul 2030
Yohan Bilingi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market15 Jul 2030
The name of Bahmed Deuff has come up in conversations AJ Auxerre were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Jul 2030
“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.
Market8 Jul 2030
The bid was some way short and AJ Auxerre did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market8 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market8 Jul 2030
Elisha Owusu 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 AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Lamine Sy has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Lamine Sy keeps the shirt for now, at AJ Auxerre's convenience rather than his own.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Ismaël Sidibé 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2029
Vincent Marty 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 AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jun 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AJ Auxerre have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Lamine Sy gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market25 Jun 2029
A conversation is coming this week. AJ Auxerre will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.