“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 The request is on a desk at Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from New Edubiase United for Felix Owusu 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Atiemo 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.
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Jonathan Atiemo to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from New Edubiase United for Andrew Annan 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kamaldeen Appiah is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Liberty Professionals asked and Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Baba Atiemo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Baba Djiku 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. University of Pretoria have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Atiemo 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.
Mamelodi Sundowns have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
SuperSport United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Baba Atiemo 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.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to University of Pretoria. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to Kano Pillars. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Baba Djiku and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
Baba Djiku 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.
Liberty Professionals asked and Rivers United 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 had been thinking. Baba Atiemo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Baba Atiemo and Liberty Professionals agree another 2 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaizer Chiefs have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Atiemo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.