Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Djibrine Djimet 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 watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Issa Mbainaissem and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. AS DGSSIE moved on, Djibrine Abba reports back to AS Etat Major, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Djibrine Djimet 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.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and a squad player has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at AS Etat Major than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Galactik paid $3.0K and AS Etat Major took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Foullah Edifice 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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Djibrine Djimet has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
“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 name of Abdoulaye Djimet has come up in conversations AS Etat Major were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Djibrine Djimet 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Narcisse Doungous and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brahim Ndoram was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Algoy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from CotonTchad for Issa Youssouf 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Etat Major have done the hard part with Foullah Edifice, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Renaissance keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Djibrine Djimet and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Youssouf 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.