Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Mokrousov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexandr Smirnov 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.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Irtysh know which stage they are at.
“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 Irtysh know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Irtysh, another week without a signature from Tobías Argañaráz.
Kuban next, and one man in the Irtysh dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Irtysh would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Irtysh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout20 Aug 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.” Aleksandr Stepanov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other 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 Irtysh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Levadia for Laszlo Lang 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nizhniy Novgorod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Alexandr Smirnov 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Irtysh has been clear about where Krystian Mucha stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Irtysh will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Metalist have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Metalist, 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikita Bahinskyi has just signed for Metalist, and for once the answer mattered.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Shcherbak 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.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Roman Vantukh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. 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.
“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 Metalist, 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 Metalist people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Roman Vantukh 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Robin Lervik has, at Metalist, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Ibrahima Dabo 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.
Robin Lervik is 20, and Metalist 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kyrylo Dihtiar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metalist the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Roman Vantukh 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahima Dabo 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.
“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 Metalist know it.
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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vitaliy Burda was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Metalist dressing room was either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metalist they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.70 for the rest of it.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Metalist 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Metalist 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Shcherbak 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Metalist have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metalist they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahima Dabo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Roman Vantukh 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Petro Lutsiv has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Kovaliov 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Metalist could ask drops and the wages Maksym Kovaliov can ask rise.
48 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Roman Vantukh 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 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. River Plate have kept their man, and Metalist go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Metalist have made the call to Independiente Rivadavia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Metalist have made the call to Tristán Suárez. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Roman Vantukh 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marlon 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vitaliy Burda after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Laszlo Lang has, at Metalist, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahima Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Vitaliy Burda kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Vantukh signs something — a contract at Metalist 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 Metalist, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 4, 34 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.