The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Eke did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. David Eke 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.
Marked 6.90 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ifeanyi Musa, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Enyimba 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.
In brief
SquadPromise Anyanwu falls out with a teammate over standards
Ezekiel Edidiong 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. Hradec Králové have kept their man, and Enyimba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Marked 6.91 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sama'ila Bello has come out of that comparison in the side, and Enyimba have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Ifeanyi Musa on the draw
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Enyimba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Enyimba 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 Enyimba can pretend not to have heard.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Enyimba asked and Portimonense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.