Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with AS PSI the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that AS Algoy will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.48, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brahim Abba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.88, and 2 involvements.
Desire Oyongo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings8 Mar 2032
A brace, and Brahim Abba takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brahim Abba provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Youssouf Tokindang and AS Algoy agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Aiglons have accepted the money. What AS Algoy do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Algoy have done the hard part with Renaissance, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
AS Algoy offered $23.0K; Renaissance said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutDesire Oyongo has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Desire Oyongo 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.
He is 20 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Brahim Abba did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdramane Bechir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
He is 19 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
AS Algoy moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Abdoulaye Haroun, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
a squad player 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.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
8 academy players handed senior numbers at AS Algoy
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hassan Allamine 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Issa Djimet has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.67, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdoulaye Mahamat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdramane Ngaradoumbe 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.
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.
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.
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 AS Algoy would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
45 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
An average of 7.42 in a first team he is several years too young for. AS Algoy have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
$17.0K settles it between the clubs for Oumar Haroun
AS DGSSIE have accepted the money. What AS Algoy do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 4 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Aiglons for Ali Abakar 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.67, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ezechiel Mbaiguedem had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
AS Algoy had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Elect Sport, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Add another name to the list: Foullah Edifice have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdramane Bechir. The answer from AS Algoy has not changed — yet.
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.
1‑4 to Foullah Edifice, 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” US Moursal had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Elect Sport keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Gazelle for a squad player 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Gazelle; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The name of Brahim Mahamat has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only 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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mahamat Hissein will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Youssouf Tokindang 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Renaissance have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Abdramane Bechir has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is 18, he is averaging 7.39, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Abakar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Nobody at AS Algoy 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.