It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Waasland-Beveren lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Bruno Godeau 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alverca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Leander Chadli 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Lincoln has taken the hint, and Alverca are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Bruno Godeau 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.
Leander Chadli 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 May 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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. 82 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.
Sieben Dewaele 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alverca can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Alverca training over how hard people work
Leander Chadli 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
“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 Alverca know it.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Waasland-Beveren lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Godeau 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.
Position 16 and 29 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alverca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Leander Chadli 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Sergi Gómez.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Waasland-Beveren lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Godeau 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 Waasland-Beveren 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 Alverca can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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.
Santa Clara left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Lincoln's mistake
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.
Leander Chadli 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
10 combined actions and 6.53. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Alverca can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. León Mancini 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Leander Chadli 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Alverca are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Laurent Jans damages knee ligaments — 143 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 143 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.
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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.
Position 16 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Leander Chadli 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 medical room confirms 20 days on the sidelines for Davy Gui, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Mendes 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.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and João Douglas is still in the building
Player ratingsSergi Gómez spends the afternoon fouling
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Alverca can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Benfica go through and Alverca go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Alverca can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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.
“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; Alverca are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Leander Chadli 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Alverca are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Nicolás Sosa.
The offer from KV Kortrijk for Laurent Jans 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 Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Christian Brüls will call it something else in private.
“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 Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. León Mancini is living that version at Alverca, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to José Julián Martínez, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Junior Mendes 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.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. León Mancini arrives at Alverca with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alverca can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Chiquinho was one of the reasons people came, and $14.5M does not replace that by itself.
Leander Chadli 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.
Maritimo paid $520.0K and Alverca took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. João Moura has just signed for Alverca, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Sergi Gómez 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Gómez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vasco Moreira. 2‑0 against AVS, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Figueiredo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waasland-Beveren can pretend not to have heard.
Viktor Boone 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with André Paulo: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Cédric Nuozzi obliged against Rio Ave. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Alverca.
“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 Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Leander Chadli 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Waasland-Beveren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Waasland-Beveren has to find a result from somewhere.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dante Rigo 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.
Alouis Diriken 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.
“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 Alverca, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alverca told Leander Chadli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with André Paulo: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Cédric Nuozzi obliged against Santa Clara. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Alverca.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The goal that put Santa Clara ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Alverca equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nicolás Sosa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Waasland-Beveren 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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Waasland-Beveren can tell you which week it ends in.
Alouis Diriken 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
Player ratingsDante Rigo spends the afternoon fouling
Nicolás Sosa wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Nicolás Sosa found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Vitoria Guimaraes went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Leander Chadli 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.
At 21 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nicolás Sosa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Alverca.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Steven Baseya 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Waasland-Beveren 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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
OH Leuven left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bruno Godeau's mistake
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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Chris Lokesa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Chiquinho wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Chiquinho found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and AVS went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Leander Chadli 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 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alverca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Alverca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael Carvalho 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 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Chris Lokesa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waasland-Beveren can pretend not to have heard.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ilyes Najim. 2‑1 against KV Oostende, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The chase for Alouis Diriken ended with $1.4M changing hands and Sint-Truiden out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Add another name to the list: Alverca have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Leander Chadli. The answer from Waasland-Beveren has not changed — yet.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Beau Reus
KV Oostende arrived with $3.9M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joaquín has just signed for Mouscron, and for once the answer mattered.
He is going to KV Oostende, the club has $3.9M 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.
Philippe Picard 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Mouscron and Lokeren, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Waasland-Beveren paid $500.0K and Mouscron took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Waasland-Beveren has been clear about where Hüseyin Ertürk stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Waasland-Beveren have gone and got theirs early.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Waasland-Beveren will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mousa Openda 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.
The name of Leander Chadli has come up in conversations Mouscron were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yannick Batshuayi has his answer from Mouscron; what he does with it is the next window’s story.