Marked for Bahlul Amirguliyev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inter people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Quilmes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Inter have gone to Neftchi 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Inter have gone to Gabala 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Khazar wanted more than $360.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Samir Madatov again, and this time the name on the line is Khazar. Inter are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ayaz Guliev
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
Half-satisfied: Maksim Guseynov on the draw
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Squad
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Ayaz Guliev
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
Inter sell their best player to Gabala
$990.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Inter and Quilmes have settled on $1.6M. 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $990.0K sale of Rahid Ramazanov
He is going to Gabala, the club has $990.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market24 Aug 2026
Inter say no — this time
The offer from Atyrau for Eddy Nazarov 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.
Market24 Aug 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $50.1K — a club that wants Hacıağa Hacılı enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Rahid Huseynov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Inter
Afran Ramazanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Andriy Shtogrin arrives at Inter in a $360.0K statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Inter have paid $360.0K for Andriy Shtogrin, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Maksim Amirguliyev has come up in conversations Inter were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ruslan Abdullayev and Inter agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Kapaz 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Neftchi wanted more than $170.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Inter paid $360.0K
Andriy Shtogrin was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $360.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ayaz Guliev 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.