Position 2 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Adnan Januzaj takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adnan Januzaj provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adnan Januzaj. 2‑0 against Club Brugge, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Something was said to Abdelkahar Kadri and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at KAA Gent, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Aimé Omgba is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thibaud Verlinden provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Sint-Truiden; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 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.
1‑2 away to the standard of Legia. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Brendan Chardonnet 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.
“I watch every KAA Gent game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at OH Leuven runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksim Paskotši 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and KAA Gent are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Ousmane Diao
KAA Gent and Slavia Prague have settled on $8.9M. 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. KAA Gent have paid $8.0M for Joel Ordóñez, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
KAA Gent asked and Los Angeles Football Club said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Davy Roef 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.
Joel Ordóñez was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $8.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
OH Leuven have gone to Racing Genk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.5M — a club that wants Alouis Diriken enough to be asked twice.
The deal with KAA Gent 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.
The phone has started ringing about Arthur Lallias again, and this time the name on the line is Kryvbas. OH Leuven are listening politely and promising nothing.
OH Leuven asked and Club Brugge 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tobe Leysen has his answer from OH Leuven; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
KAA Gent and Club Brugge have settled on $8.0M. 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.6M has been paid because Brendan Chardonnet is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
$4.8M was the most the club would pay and Slavia Prague were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
KAA Gent asked and Eupen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sint-Truiden paid $730.0K and KAA Gent took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Brendan Chardonnet 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 phone has started ringing about Ibrahima Cissé again, and this time the name on the line is Lierse. KAA Gent are listening politely and promising nothing.