It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mihajlo Cvetković wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Christian Tielemans has just signed for Anderlecht, and for once the answer mattered.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Konstantinos Karetsas and Anderlecht agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The name of Nathan-Dylan Saliba has come up in conversations Anderlecht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Tielemans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokeren the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Tielemans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokeren the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadMatteo Politano falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokeren is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mousa Kompany 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 words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
2‑0 against BATE, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Yannick Alderweireld was at the centre of the description.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokeren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokeren is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
6 goals in one match, Yannick Alderweireld on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lokeren and Anderlecht.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Josep Cerdà has agreed terms with KAA Gent for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Lokeren, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yannick Alderweireld and Lokeren agree another 2 years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokeren is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Thorgan Doku 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 win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Lokeren hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
In brief
SquadMousa Kompany falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokeren 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 Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Lokeren have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad26 Jun 2034
João Klauss 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.
In brief
SquadThorgan Doku has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Laurent Batshuayi reports back to Lokeren with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mousa Kompany 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Thorgan Doku 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 name of Lukas Cakoni has come up in conversations Lokeren were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokeren is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Thorgan Doku 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 phone has started ringing about Lukas Cakoni again, and this time the name on the line is KV Oostende. Lokeren are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Lokeren hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.