32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mladost Lucani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Željko Samčović 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Mladost Lucani is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sani Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Petar Bojić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Kabel next, and one man in the Mladost Lucani dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Veljko Kijevčanin signs something — a contract at Mladost Lucani or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mladost Lucani. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Mladost Lucani had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Miloš Divac 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikola Obućina and Mladost Lucani agree another 3 years.
Mladost Lucani 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mladost Lucani, another week without a signature from Zoran Karać.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zoran Karać trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mladost Lucani know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mladost Lucani have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Željko Samčović 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sani Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of John Mary has come up in conversations Mladost Lucani were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mladost Lucani people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ognjen Bondžulić did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The offer from Novi Pazar for John Mary 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.
Mihailo Oreščanin 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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Mladost Lucani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sani Abdullahi 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mladost Lucani people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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; Mladost Lucani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Željko Samčović 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. PAOK have kept their man, and Mladost Lucani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Bogdan Matijašević again, and this time the name on the line is Novi Pazar. Mladost Lucani are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad19 Jun 2028
John Mary 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.
Mladost Lucani have made the call to FCSB. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikola Boranijašević and Mladost Lucani agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Irfan Hadžić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Mladost Lucani would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Ognjen Bondžulić has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Mladost Lucani could ask drops and the wages John Mary can ask rise.
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 Mladost Lucani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
19 appearances at Alanyaspor and the goals have stopped going in. Mladost Lucani lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Mladost Lucani will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darko Vukašinović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mladost Lucani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Miloš Divac 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mladost Lucani know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mladost Lucani. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Miloš Divac 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Mladost Lucani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sani Abdullahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Mladost Lucani could ask drops and the wages Nikola Ćirković can ask rise.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mladost Lucani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mladost Lucani, another week without a signature from Saša Knežević.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Darko Vukašinović has his answer from Mladost Lucani; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saša Knežević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mladost Lucani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Mladost Lucani is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ognjen Krsmanović and Mladost Lucani agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sani Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mladost Lucani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Mladost Lucani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Miloš Divac 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Miroslav Lukic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nikola Ćirković
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mladost Lucani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mladost Lucani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikola Obućina and Mladost Lucani agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sani Abdullahi. 2‑1 against Dinamo Vranje, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Words at Mladost Lucani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Nikolić 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.
Daddy Abdulrahman 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Mladost Lucani would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Mladost Lucani says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saša Knežević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Javor-Matis is saying, and nobody at Mladost Lucani is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Everybody at Mladost Lucani saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 42 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mladost Lucani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Panathinaikos 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.