Marked for Patrick Waris
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Fee done, terms next for Dari Haruna
WAFA and Asante Kotoko have settled on $230.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market5 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Abeiku Owusu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abeiku Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around WAFA the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
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Market5 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at WAFA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Salim Uzair Baafada commits to WAFA for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Kyereh 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.
Squad5 Jul 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Jul 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
WAFA sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around WAFA people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad21 Jun 2027
21 days out for Abeiku Sulemana after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Jun 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Jonathan Atiemo 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. WAFA have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Kyereh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Baba Mohammed 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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Osman Owusu
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The training reports on Jonathan Kyereh are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout10 May 2027
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Market10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at WAFA
Abeiku Owusu 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 dugout10 May 2027
Nana Gyan gets it from the manager
“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 dugout10 May 2027
Baba Mohammed 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 WAFA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Jonathan Atiemo 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Kyereh 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Andre Essien
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
23 days out for Abeiku Owusu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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Market12 Apr 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 WAFA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Apr 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Kyereh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at WAFA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
51 days out for Abeiku Owusu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Jonathan Atiemo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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Market15 Mar 2027
Patrick Waris hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Heart of Lions left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Jonathan Kyereh 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.25 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gladson Acquah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Abeiku Owusu out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with BA All Stars; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Jonathan Atiemo at 21 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jonathan Atiemo did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Andre Ayew: 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.” WAFA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at WAFA 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Patrick Waris hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammed Wakaso commits to WAFA for another 1 years.