What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at El-Kanemi Warriors can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El-Kanemi Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and 9 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal that would have taken Zakka John to Kun Khalifat has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to El-Kanemi Warriors with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The shirt still fits. Jake Barbarouses is back at El-Kanemi Warriors, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
$2.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“I did not go to Ashanti Gold to sit and watch. I want to come back to El-Kanemi Warriors and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El-Kanemi Warriors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at El-Kanemi Warriors has to find a result from somewhere.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The shirt still fits. Taiwo Iwobi is back at El-Kanemi Warriors, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The shirt still fits. Isaac Onyeka is back at El-Kanemi Warriors, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The shirt still fits. Chidera Umar is back at El-Kanemi Warriors, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
A 1-0 win over Katsina United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El-Kanemi Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
At 28 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. El-Kanemi Warriors have a decision that made itself.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Ismail Mukhtar
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.