Marked for Abdramane Abba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssouf Allamine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around US Moursal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
Djibrine Bechir 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.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssouf Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout10 May 2027
Abdramane Abba knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at US Moursal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmat Moustapha signs something — a contract at US Moursal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom3 May 2027
An order from above at US Moursal: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market3 May 2027
Marius Haroun has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Moursal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 May 2027
Djibrine Bechir 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssouf Allamine 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.
Squad3 May 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdramane Haroun is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout3 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Djibrine Bechir trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad3 May 2027
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 dugout3 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Abdramane Abba keeps appearing in other people's back pages. US Moursal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Djibrine Bechir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Youssouf Allamine 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.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
9 shut-outs in 21 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Abdramane Tokindang has been having a lot of them.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezechiel Moustapha, and the manager let it.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Djibrine Bechir signs something — a contract at US Moursal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market19 Apr 2027
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs US Moursal money.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
24 appearances at AS DGSSIE and the goals keep coming. US Moursal are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Issa Mahamat knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Issa Mahamat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad19 Apr 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at US Moursal the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS PSI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bark Abdramane is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match27 Mar 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ali Issa Blagué’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS PSI.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at AS PSI
Abdramane Abba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Mar 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.” Mahamat Haroun kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Mahamat Adam Ali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS PSI 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Bark Abdramane knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marius Ngaradoumbe damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
19 goals and a season average of 7.56. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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 PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brahim Goudja 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for AS PSI, 2‑0 the final word against AS DGSSIE in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mahamat Haroun, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Mahamat Adam Ali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS PSI 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.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
AS PSI take on the side everybody is chasing
Renaissance arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 61. 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Djibrine Bechir
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 7.74 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market1 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Moursal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A hand in 2 of them from Adam Djimet — 7.87
Marked 7.87. 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Youssouf Allamine 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.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS PSI runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Feb 2027
No mercy from AS PSI
Stars Jeunes Talents will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AS PSI were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Brahim Goudja
17 goals and a season average of 7.49 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The AS PSI board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
AS PSI asked and Elect Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Abdramane Abba 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Félix Noubara makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mahamat Haroun, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Brahim Goudja had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad1 Feb 2027
16 days out for Joël Djingar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brahim Goudja is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.45 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
AS PSI close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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 PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Mahamat Adam Ali’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS PSI.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Joël Djingar out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Jan 2027
AS PSI bow out of the cup
Renaissance go through and AS PSI go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Afrique Foot Elite have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Brahim Goudja. The answer from AS PSI has not changed — yet.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bark Abdramane, and the manager let it.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Gazelle leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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 Mahamat Adam Ali is on it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mahamat Haroun was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the AS PSI dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” US Moursal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Algoy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at US Moursal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Djibrine Bechir 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 Jan 2027
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssouf Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foullah Edifice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Bechir, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 US Moursal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Stars Jeunes Talents had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Abdramane Abba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” US Moursal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Djibrine Bechir 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Foullah Edifice pay $72.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market11 Jan 2027
Foullah Edifice paid $33.0K and US Moursal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
US Moursal asked and Gazelle said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssouf Allamine 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Djibrine Bechir 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssouf Allamine 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foullah Edifice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Djibrine Bechir’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ali Allamine asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market23 Nov 2026
The shop window has Issa Mahamat in it
US Moursal have let the market know Issa Mahamat can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdramane Abba is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Djibrine Bechir 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssouf Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Foullah Edifice to sit and watch. I want to come back to US Moursal and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.