26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KAA Gent lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑3 against Bayern Munich. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“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 The request is on a desk at KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothy Onana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2‑1 against Astra, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
0‑3 to Charleroi, 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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kasey McAteer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KV Oostende waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kasey McAteer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The offer from Plateau United for Yira Sor 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAA Gent have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Zulte Waregem will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KAA Gent were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAA Gent people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from OH Leuven for Bruno Testa 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. George Abbott is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Timothy Onana 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.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Bruno Testa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tibe De Vlieger is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothy Onana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mujaid Sadick has, at KAA Gent, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Add another name to the list: OH Leuven have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bruno Testa. The answer from KAA Gent has not changed — yet.
Christantus Uche 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.
KAA Gent offered $310.0K; Charleroi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothy Onana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and KAA Gent know which stage they are at.
The offer from Sint-Truiden for Bruno Testa 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tibe De Vlieger will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothy Onana 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abdelkahar Kadri 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.
In brief
The dugoutDaan Heymans asks for a word with the manager
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. KAA Gent had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Timothy Onana 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; KAA Gent are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Adnan Januzaj is on it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KAA Gent can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marco Kana has his answer from KAA Gent; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Espen van Ee 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.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Soumaïla Coulibaly has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tibe De Vlieger will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothy Onana 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.
Toby Alderweireld 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bruno Testa is on it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Timothy Onana 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Espen van Ee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and KAA Gent know it.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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.
In brief
The dugoutDaan Heymans knocks on the manager’s door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 2 on 72 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Christantus Uche 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothy Onana 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.
KV Mechelen will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KAA Gent were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bruno Testa 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tijs Velthuis has, at KAA Gent, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Timothy Onana 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAA Gent have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Add another name to the list: Waasland-Beveren have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bruno Testa. The answer from KAA Gent has not changed — yet.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nikola Vukić is living that version at KAA Gent, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothy Onana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Bruno Testa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The offer went to Anderlecht this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Nomme Kalju for Maksim Paskotši 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Nikola Vlašić 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $550.7K — a club that wants Isaac Mbenza enough to be asked twice.
Sint-Truiden will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KAA Gent were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Westerlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lokeren; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
Christantus Uche 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.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
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.
Christantus Uche 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.
7 goals in one match, Christantus Uche on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KAA Gent and Waasland-Beveren.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
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.
1‑4 against Anderlecht, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match25 Nov 2028
Danylo Sikan wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Danylo Sikan found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Club Brugge went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for 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 KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Toby Alderweireld and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sampson Dweh 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.
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A brace, and Nikola Vlašić takes the afternoon — 9.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Vlašić provided it, and the 9.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KAA Gent and Anderlecht, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toby Alderweireld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lokeren will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KAA Gent were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
A brace, and Nikola Vlašić takes the afternoon — 9.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Vlašić provided it, and the 9.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Christantus Uche 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toby Alderweireld 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The offer from KV Kortrijk for Bruno Testa 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mouscron waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
KAA Gent asked and KV Oostende said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Nikola Vlašić 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether KAA Gent can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Zulte Waregem, and it could have been more.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A brace, and Danylo Sikan takes the afternoon — 9.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danylo Sikan provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
KAA Gent have gone to Club Brugge with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Mouscron will replay every second of the added time for a week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAA Gent will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.48 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The name of Siebe Van der Heyden has come up in conversations KAA Gent were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAA Gent will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mathias Delorge is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Toby Alderweireld 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nikola Vlašić is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAA Gent will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAA Gent people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KAA Gent has been clear about where Zinho Mignolet stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Testa knocks on the manager's door
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KAA Gent lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAA Gent will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Nikola Vlašić 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sampson Dweh is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
$6.4M settles it between the clubs for Daan Heymans
Racing Genk have accepted the money. What KAA Gent do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer went to Anderlecht this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Espen van Ee has just signed for KAA Gent, and for once the answer mattered.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Christantus Uche wants continental football; whether KAA Gent can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
0‑1 against Olympiacos. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toby Alderweireld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Club Brugge this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Mouscron this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
KAA Gent have gone to Sint-Truiden with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer went to Waasland-Beveren this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Christantus Uche 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toby Alderweireld 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.
Christantus Uche 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toby Alderweireld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bruno Testa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KAA Gent.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Adnan Januzaj was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.