Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Makhachkala 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Magomed Ibragimov 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Diaa Eddine Mechid 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shamil Gadjiev 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Robles-Larsen and Dinamo Makhachkala 2 agree another 4 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Makhachkala 2 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.” Dinamo Makhachkala 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Makhachkala 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Smelov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Robles-Larsen and Dinamo Makhachkala 2 agree another 3 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Makhachkala 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
78 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Makhachkala 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
An average of 7.10 in a first team he is several years too young for. Dinamo Makhachkala 2 have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Yegor Smelov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Asilder Temirsultanov and Dinamo Makhachkala 2 agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Dinamo Makhachkala know it.
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 Hazem Mastouri is on it.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Volk asks for a word with the manager