Marked for Yannick Chadli
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Derby County for David Turnbull 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 given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 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 Cardiff City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Cardiff City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Osho 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Preston, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.78 on the card, and the Cardiff City support went home talking about one name.
Market24 Aug 2026
A conversation is coming this week. Cardiff City will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Utrecht come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mouscron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 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 Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk paid $380.0K 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mousa Vertonghen 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Axel Openda commits to Mouscron for another 3 years.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Lokeren leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market17 Aug 2026
Mouscron have made Dries Chadli available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
SV Ried come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mouscron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Zinho Courtois 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 Aug 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mousa Vertonghen 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Jason Chadli has come up in conversations Mouscron were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Romelu Vanaken asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.