7 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Yannick Saleh 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brahim Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aiglons they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AS Algoy in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yannick Saleh signs something — a contract at Aiglons or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aiglons they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The deal with AS Etat Major is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Moussa Abakar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aiglons the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Galactik have kept their man, and Aiglons go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Aiglons game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The deal with AS Etat Major is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stars Jeunes Talents have kept their man, and Aiglons go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Aiglons have made the call to Renaissance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Everything agreed with AS Etat Major, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mahamat Haroun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aiglons the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yannick Masra 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.
Position 6, 30 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aiglons has been clear about where Brahim Youssouf stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aiglons, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aiglons people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Aiglons close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Aiglons asked and AS Algoy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aiglons, another week without a signature from Saleh Abakar.
“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 Aiglons, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aiglons have done the hard part with Stars Jeunes Talents, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yannick Masra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The name of Moussa Abakar has come up in conversations Aiglons were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Brahim Youssouf is 20, and Aiglons have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Aiglons have gone to US Moursal 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.
Yannick Saleh 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Aiglons training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Masra 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.
A season-long audition: AS Etat Major still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Aiglons's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Aiglons have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aiglons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ezechiel Hissein has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Idriss Abba has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Moussa Abakar is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Bechir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.