Marked for Javid Guseynov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Sep 2026
Inter sink to position 9
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market21 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inter can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Inter
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Inter are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhan Fakili 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Kapaz take the points off Inter
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Inter told Maycon Cleiton something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Inter game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Neftchi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Cavid Garayev has come up in conversations Inter were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Afran Abdullayev 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 6.84 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Market24 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Inter will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Inter did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Afran Abdullayev 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Inter
4 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Sumgayit left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Afran Mammadov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renat Mammadov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Afran Bayramov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Deniz Yilmaz 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Inter say no — this time
The offer from Ethnikos Achnas for Cavid Garayev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Afran Abdullayev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Richard Ozobic 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Neftchi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tamkin Amirguliyev. The answer from Inter has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Inter know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 2026
Javid Guseynov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Inter has been clear about where Javid Guseynov stands, which is more than many ever get.