The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Renaissance have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $26.0K of what Renaissance paid for Mahamat Tchari is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Renaissance until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The phone has started ringing about Maël Massé again, and this time the name on the line is CotonTchad. Renaissance are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mbarick Fall was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jacob Addis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
106% of the income goes out in wages at Renaissance
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Elect Sport people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Elect Sport asked and AS DGSSIE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Elect Sport has been clear about where Mohamed El Ouardi stands, which is more than many ever get.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Elect Sport lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Moral Djimhotoum had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from US Moursal for Mohamed El Ouardi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Elect Sport they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Elect Sport people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Mohamed El Ouardi 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Adama Keïta 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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 Elect Sport can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Elect Sport people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yileng Augustine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Elect Sport the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from AS DGSSIE for Adam Mbaiguedem 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abakar Haroun Mahamat and Elect Sport agree another 4 years.
Mohamed El Ouardi 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. Renaissance have kept their man, and Elect Sport go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Adama Keïta 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CotonTchad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Elect Sport is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Elect Sport may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match27 Jun 2029
After 12 games, Elect Sport finally taste it again
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Renaissance; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“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 Elect Sport, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Elect Sport had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Abdoulie Jarjue Kabia scored, was marked 7.52, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Elect Sport they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed El Ouardi 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.
This is not rotation. Ferdinand Gassina has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Elect Sport is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 May 2029
Adama Keïta 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.
Nobody at Elect Sport 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adama Keïta signs something — a contract at Elect Sport or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Elect Sport is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Abakar Haroun Mahamat is on 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 Elect Sport, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohamed El Ouardi signs something — a contract at Elect Sport or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boubacar Diebaté will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Elect Sport the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohamed El Ouardi 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 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 Elect Sport know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Elect Sport saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
Nobody at Elect Sport 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Elect Sport 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Adama Keïta 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ferdinand Gassina has his answer from Elect Sport; 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.
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Yileng Augustine, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Elect Sport, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Elect Sport is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mohamed El Ouardi 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 Adama Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Yileng Augustine 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.
In brief
Player ratingsSoufiane Jebari did the work nobody counts — 6.69
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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 Elect Sport can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Elect Sport training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Keïta 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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 Elect Sport, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Elect Sport people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $31.8K of what Elect Sport paid for Adoum Fachir is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The deal that would have taken Abdoulaye Mbainaissem to AS Algoy has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Elect Sport with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yileng Augustine has, at Elect Sport, and the first month will show what that does to a man.