A season average of 7.27 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ventspils know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Harry Evans reports back to Ventspils with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lawal Muritala 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.
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 Alvis Jaunzems is on it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Spartaks moved on, Abdoul Bane reports back to Ventspils, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Akin Odimayo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Jaunzems 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.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
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 Ventspils, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Spartaks for Abdoul Bane 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ventspils have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Ventspils 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alexandru Stoian has, at Ventspils, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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. Gift Isioma has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ventspils have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Skonto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ventspils is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Aug 2029
At 20, Cheick Kanté is already the best thing here
An average of 7.27 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ventspils have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Vanins will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ventspils the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Taaniel Usta 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ventspils people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Akin Odimayo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Kanté has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Akin Odimayo 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ventspils have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ventspils can pretend not to have heard.
Aaron Olanare 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.
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Jaunzems 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Taaniel Usta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Aaron Olanare is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ventspils will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
Taaniel Usta 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.
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Jaunzems 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Cheick Kanté is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Ventspils will try very hard not to make too much of it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Dmytro Zudin is in the works
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ventspils will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Ventspils can pretend not to have heard.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.27, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdoul Bane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ventspils the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Akin Odimayo 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.
Add another name to the list: Aduana Stars have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tadej Bonaca. The answer from Ventspils has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
A brace, and Cheick Kanté takes the afternoon — 9.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cheick Kanté provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Akin Odimayo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Ventspils go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ventspils lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Cheick Kanté did not need any: 9.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.21, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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 Ventspils can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sadeeq Abdulahi. 1‑0 against Jelgava, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ventspils lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Cheick Kanté, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Liepaja made Ventspils work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Jaunzems 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
19 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
A brace, and Olegs Cauna takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Olegs Cauna provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ventspils know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Aaron Olanare 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.
Akin Odimayo 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Skonto; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
Nobody at Ventspils 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.
“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.
In brief
SquadCheick Kanté is the weekend's best young player
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Akin Odimayo 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
Akin Odimayo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Kanté has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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 goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Reinis Reinholds now has 27 of them across 43 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Jaunzems 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.
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 Reinis Reinholds is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ventspils, another week without a signature from Cheick Kanté.
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
Akin Odimayo 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 Lawal Muritala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ventspils 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Suduva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ventspils is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Alavés 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 Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ventspils asked and Hajduk Split 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 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.
Nobody at Ventspils 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ventspils, another week without a signature from Cheick Kanté.
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ventspils have done the hard part with Ujpest, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Add another name to the list: Suduva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tadej Bonaca. The answer from Ventspils has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lawal Muritala 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 Reinis Reinholds is on 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 Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nobody at Ventspils 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.
“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 Ventspils will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Ventspils and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Sem Morales
“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 Ventspils, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Ventspils know it.
“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 Ventspils hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Jaunzems 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.
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 Reinis Reinholds is on it.
Akin Odimayo 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 2028
Gideon Iliya 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ventspils can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Alvis Jaunzems is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sadeeq Abdulahi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0‑0 against Viborg, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Liepaja go through and Ventspils go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ventspils had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ventspils have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Cameron Wilson has just signed for Ventspils, and for once the answer mattered.
Aaron Olanare 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.
“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 Ventspils know it.
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ventspils have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Akin Odimayo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Ventspils 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 Krišs Kārkliņš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ventspils have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutTadej Bonaca knocks on the manager’s door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Kelly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ventspils asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Aaron Olanare 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.
Slavia Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at Ventspils 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mouhamed Souare has just signed for Ventspils, and for once the answer mattered.
The deal with Slavia Prague 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.
Akin Odimayo 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.
Nobody at Ventspils 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moustapha Diaw 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Ventspils go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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. Janis Dubra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ventspils the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Akin Odimayo 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 Moustapha Diaw was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ventspils asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Ventspils know now that the thought has arrived.
13 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Harry Evans has just signed for Ventspils, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Ventspils know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ascoli have kept their man, and Ventspils go back to a list with one name crossed off it.