Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdelkader Bensebaini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foullah Edifice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lorik Vial 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.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Foullah Edifice will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and a squad player has written the date down.
The phone has started ringing about a squad player again, and this time the name on the line is AS Etat Major. Foullah Edifice are listening politely and promising nothing.
Saleh Abba 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.
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 Bicto Tyonga is on it.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Saleh Moustapha chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. AS PSI defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
AS DGSSIE next, and one man in the Foullah Edifice dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Foullah Edifice people have started saying his name 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.” Foullah Edifice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything agreed with AS DGSSIE, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Elect Sport have kept their man, and Foullah Edifice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Gazelle have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about a squad player. The answer from Foullah Edifice has not changed — yet.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Benjamin Merba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Bicto Tyonga at his very best
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutBenjamin Merba has become a man the manager trusts
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. CotonTchad had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It needed Innocent Mbairamadji to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against CotonTchad, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Saleh Moustapha was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Foullah Edifice dressing room was either.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bechir Djimet signs something — a contract at Foullah Edifice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Foullah Edifice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Foullah Edifice, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foullah Edifice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Djibrine Ngaradoumbe, 16 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foullah Edifice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” a squad player and Foullah Edifice agree another 3 years.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AS PSI in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Foullah Edifice could ask drops and the wages Trésor Feumba can ask rise.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. a squad player will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foullah Edifice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Foullah Edifice 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Foullah Edifice people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pablo Saint Martin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foullah Edifice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $2.4K of what AS PSI paid for Issa Ngaradoumbe is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at AS PSI 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 deal with Foullah Edifice 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.
Brahim Goudja 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. AS PSI were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Abdulqodri Habeeb is 19, and AS PSI have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Foullah Edifice 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.
Abdelkader Bensebaini 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Foullah Edifice, another week without a signature from Trésor Feumba.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Etat Major have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Gaetan Doko Bello again, and this time the name on the line is AS Algoy. AS Etat Major are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with AS DGSSIE 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Etat Major asked and Foullah Edifice 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Foullah Edifice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
DIFAI Agsu have made their interest known and Foullah Edifice have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Foullah Edifice have done the hard part with Elect Sport, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdoulaye Hissein and Foullah Edifice agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Etat Major people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Etat Major have done the hard part with CotonTchad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
AS Etat Major have gone to AS Algoy 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.
Hassan Mbaiguedem 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaetan Doko Bello 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.
AS Etat Major have made the call to Foullah Edifice. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and a squad player trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jabrayil have made their interest known and Foullah Edifice have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
Bicto Tyonga 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 name of a squad player has come up in conversations Foullah Edifice were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Foullah Edifice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from US Moursal for Pablo Saint Martin 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.
Lorik Vial 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.
Everything agreed with AS DGSSIE, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Foullah Edifice is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foullah Edifice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Foullah Edifice could ask drops and the wages Trésor Feumba can ask rise.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
A 3‑1 win over AS Etat Major, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kita 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Saleh Moustapha could afford to be generous.
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 Bicto Tyonga is on it.
In brief
The dugoutBicto Tyonga knocks on the manager’s door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foullah Edifice they have already started talking about him 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 Foullah Edifice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Benjamin Merba is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Djibrine Souleymane’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Foullah Edifice needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and a squad player trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Lorik Vial 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.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Saleh Moustapha after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Félix Noubara 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.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
AS Algoy next, and one man in the Foullah Edifice dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoulaye Mbainaissem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Foullah Edifice know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Lorik Vial 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.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bechir Djimet signs something — a contract at Foullah Edifice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Foullah Edifice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Foullah Edifice have gone to Aiglons 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.
Lorik Vial 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.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bicto Tyonga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mbogo Acyl signs something — a contract at Foullah Edifice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
$76.0K on the table at Aiglons. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Foullah Edifice asked and Aiglons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foullah Edifice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aubin Mbaïgolmem and Foullah Edifice agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Foullah Edifice 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 language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Hassan Abba had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Lorik Vial 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. AS Algoy have kept their man, and Foullah Edifice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aubin Mbaïgolmem and Foullah Edifice agree another 3 years.
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 Mbogo Acyl is on it.
There is a sharpness to a man in the last year of a contract that everybody at the ground can see. Every touch is a negotiation, and Foullah Edifice are enjoying the audition.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foullah Edifice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Etat Major lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. a squad player was one of the reasons people came, and $9.0K does not replace that by itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Abdramane Doungous 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.
AS Etat Major asked and Aiglons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
a squad player has left for Foullah Edifice in a $9.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Foullah Edifice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Foullah Edifice know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
$76.0K on the table at Aiglons. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chase for a squad player ended with $9.0K changing hands and AS Etat Major out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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 Benjamin Merba is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mbogo Acyl signs something — a contract at Foullah Edifice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Foullah Edifice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from US Bougouba for Kita 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.
The deal with AS Etat Major 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bechir Djimet signs something — a contract at Foullah Edifice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Moursal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gaetan Doko Bello 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 Adam Abba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.