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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Toufik Addadi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation MB Rouissat are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MB Rouissat have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
$220.0K settles it between the clubs for Hamza Boualem
JS Kabylie have accepted the money. What MB Rouissat do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Everything agreed with ES Mostaganem, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
MB Rouissat asked and MC Oran 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 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 Djigo Saikou is on it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with MC El Bayadh 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC El Bayadh have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MB Rouissat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 14 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
MB Rouissat and USM Khenchela have settled on $450.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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; MB Rouissat are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat 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. MB Rouissat have lost him in all but the paperwork.
MB Rouissat and MC El Bayadh have settled on $620.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
MB Rouissat asked and USM Alger 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 mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at MB Rouissat
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rezki Hamroune 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. MC El Bayadh have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MB Rouissat have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with ES Setif, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
MB Rouissat asked and USM Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Rezki Hamroune has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MB Rouissat, another week without a signature from Julio Bandessi.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at MB Rouissat. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutAdda Derder knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Badreddine Hadidi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Akbou have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
MB Rouissat have made the call to USM Khenchela. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MB Rouissat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MB Rouissat have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Abdelkarim Mostafa is living that version at MB Rouissat, and it tends to show in the first month.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with JS Kabylie, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
MB Rouissat asked and MC El Bayadh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siaka Bagayoko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MB Rouissat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. MB Rouissat told Badreddine Hadidi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MB Rouissat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Fateh Talah 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. MB Rouissat know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at MB Rouissat pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Karim Belaili on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nazim Babaï has, at MB Rouissat, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with CR Belouizdad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Julio Bandessi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Rezki Hamroune 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. ASO Chlef have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Karim Belaili after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
2‑5 to CS Constantine, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between MB Rouissat and CS Constantine, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑5 defeat, delivered by Karim Belaili to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and ES Ben Aknoun were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Rezki Hamroune 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fateh Talah has his answer from MB Rouissat; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
MB Rouissat interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Karim Belaili keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fares Khlaed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nadji Ben Kheira and MB Rouissat agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
0‑1 to JS Saoura, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Karim Belaili left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adda Derder has his answer from MB Rouissat; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around MB Rouissat people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
MB Rouissat asked and JS Saoura said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siaka Bagayoko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at MB Rouissat
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
MB Rouissat and Olympique Akbou have settled on $180.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
CS Constantine will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ibrahim Sangaré has pre-agreed a move to MB Rouissat, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. MB Rouissat will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benali Benamar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Mouad Redjem damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at MB Rouissat
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Fares Khlaed 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Julio Bandessi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Badreddine Touki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Something was said to Fares Khlaed and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
“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 MB Rouissat will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 7.65 for the rest of it.
Olympique Akbou held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. MB Rouissat answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
It needed Rezki Hamroune to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Olympique Akbou, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Badreddine Hadidi 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Karim Medjani chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.