Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdoulaye Mbaiguedem and US Moursal agree another 3 years.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at US Moursal who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdoulaye Djimet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around US Moursal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Idriss Moustapha 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.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Mbaiguedem signs something — a contract at US Moursal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutOumar Abakar knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Moursal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
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.
“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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at US Moursal has been clear about where Idriss Moustapha stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Moursal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmat Moustapha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Moursal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at US Moursal, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
0‑2 to Renaissance, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssouf Djimet 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marius Mbainaissem commits to US Moursal for another 3 years.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Adam Tokindang left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Idriss Mbainaissem and US Moursal agree another 3 years.
14 combined actions and 6.89. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdramane Doungous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 17 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.
a squad player 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.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
US Moursal close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
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.
The fee is $17.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. AS Algoy drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aiglons have kept their man, and US Moursal 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 US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and AS DGSSIE spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Position 11 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The offer from Stars Jeunes Talents for Mahamat 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.
$160.0K on the table at US Moursal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Algoy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“I watch every AS Algoy game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Etat Major runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Djibrine Adoum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Algoy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 12 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Algoy can tell you which week it ends in.
Mahamat Ndoram 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.
“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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Idriss Bechir chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Djibrine Adoum 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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mahamat Ndoram 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.
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Idriss Bechir left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Algoy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Out, 1‑1 to Foullah Edifice, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Aiglons scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
1‑4 to Renaissance, 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.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Moussa Mahamat has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Algoy, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The offer from AS DGSSIE for Oumar Mahamat 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Douala have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
The deal that would have taken Mahamat Youssouf to AS DGSSIE has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at AS Algoy 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.
Add another name to the list: AS DGSSIE have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oumar Mahamat. The answer from AS Algoy has not changed — yet.
AS Algoy asked and Great Olympics said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. a squad player has moved up it.