Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Basit Ahmed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Asamoah 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 1‑0 win over Asante Kotoko, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.20 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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 Andrew Gyan 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 Liberty Professionals, and both men came out saying it was fine.
0‑3 to Ashanti Gold, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Baba 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andre Bukari and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kamaldeen Inusah after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Liberty Professionals may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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.
At 22 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.
A 1‑0 win over Great Olympics, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Baba 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Basit Ahmed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Liberty Professionals may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Liberty Professionals has to find a result from somewhere.
Joseph Sulemana 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Andre Baba 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.41 on the card, and the Liberty Professionals support went home talking about one name.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Kamaldeen Inusah was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Liberty Professionals dressing room was either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Osman Asante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrew Gyan and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Aduana Stars scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It needed Joseph Sulemana to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Aduana Stars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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 David Asamoah is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Israel Odedele's mistake
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Mohammed Kudus’s exile
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liberty Professionals lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Liberty Professionals had all but put away. BA All Stars will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrew Afful's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Abdulrahman Garba has come out of that comparison in the side, and Liberty Professionals have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A mark of 8.24 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Liberty Professionals 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Albert Bukari reports back to Liberty Professionals with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Andrew Afful 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 asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joseph Sulemana provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Liberty Professionals people have started saying his name in the past tense.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Afful 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.
Liberty Professionals asked and Basel 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Liberty Professionals have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andre Baba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrew Afful was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Liberty Professionals have had the benefit of it.
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.
Add another name to the list: Medeama have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Basit Ahmed. The answer from Liberty Professionals has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Andrew Afful 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Gallen have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Joseph Sulemana 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 David Asamoah is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Andrew Afful 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kamaldeen Inusah after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAndrew Gyan has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Asamoah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrew Afful was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Jeffrey Mensah is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
“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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Joseph Sulemana 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Andrew Afful 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Zalli Abdullahi knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liberty Professionals have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Albert Bukari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marked 7.98. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
David Asamoah 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.
At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrew Afful was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Nana Kudus was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Asante and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
“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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Joseph Sulemana 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.
The goal that put New Edubiase United ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Liberty Professionals equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andre Baba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hearts of Oak have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Albert Inusah 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 loan enquiry to Mamelodi Sundowns: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Mohammed Bukari is on it.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Andre Baba 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.
“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.
Joseph Sulemana 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Israel Odedele and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. DAC Dunajska Streda have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Liberty Professionals, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Liberty Professionals have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 deal with Mamelodi Sundowns 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.
Joseph Sulemana 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.
The name of Andre Baba has come up in conversations Liberty Professionals were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Liberty Professionals asked and Rangers International said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to Crvena Zvezda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Liberty Professionals will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andre Baba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Joseph Sulemana 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. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Rangers International: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Position 3, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Andre Baba 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Liberty Professionals have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Osman Asante trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at Liberty Professionals is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nana Kudus and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Mamelodi Sundowns: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrew Afful's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Liberty Professionals people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Liberty Professionals may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Joseph Sulemana 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. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Liberty Professionals have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Orlando Pirates 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zalli Abdullahi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Joseph Sulemana 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 performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Mohammed Bukari was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Joseph Sulemana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Zalli Abdullahi.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Gyan and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
“I did not go to SuperSport United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Liberty Professionals and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 27 matches say the rest.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Siphelele Mkhulise has come out of that comparison in the side, and Liberty Professionals have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Zalli Abdullahi
Andre Baba wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Andre Baba found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Hearts of Oak went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
A 1‑0 win over Hearts of Oak, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Liberty Professionals will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Enoch Nkrumah is living that version at Liberty Professionals, and it tends to show in the first month.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Eugene Amankwah 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.