Marked for Dauren Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Haruki Saruta
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Jun 2028
“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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Bruno Varela 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Ibrahim Hussain gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ibrahim Hussain has just signed for Al-Hazem, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Jun 2028
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.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
Ohod will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Karlo Jikidze has pre-agreed a move to Al-Hazem, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
$521.5K on the table at Al-Hazem
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Market5 Jun 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kuzmichev 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Kuzmichev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
$1.1M on the table at Akzhaiyk
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Kairat to sit and watch. I want to come back to Akzhaiyk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Serikzhan Akhmetov 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Akzhaiyk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akzhaiyk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market29 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akzhaiyk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Talgat Nuserbayev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Match27 Mar 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Mar 2027
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Polivanov 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.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Okzhetpes to sit and watch. I want to come back to Akzhaiyk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 8 matches say the rest.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.