Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shandong Taishan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Albion Ademi 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guilherme Madruga signs something — a contract at Shandong Taishan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shandong Taishan, another week without a signature from Wang Xiaofeng.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shandong Taishan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Albion Ademi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Aziz Yakubu 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Shandong Taishan, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shandong Taishan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Shandong Taishan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chen Chenglong trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shandong Taishan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shandong Taishan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Albion Ademi 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.
Nobody at Shandong Taishan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shandong Taishan have done the hard part with Ponte Preta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Shandong Taishan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Boca Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chen Chenglong and Shandong Taishan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boca Juniors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Albion Ademi 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.
Shandong Taishan asked and Shenzhen Peng City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Shanghai Port have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boca Juniors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from Chengdu Rongcheng for Juan Camilo Salazar 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.
The deal with Ponte Preta 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Camilo Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Henan FC have kept their man, and Shandong Taishan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chen Chenglong and Shandong Taishan agree another 4 years.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shanghai Port have kept their man, and Shandong Taishan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Shandong Taishan have gone to Shanghai Port 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Camilo Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan Camilo Salazar is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Albion Ademi signs something — a contract at Shandong Taishan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Shandong Taishan would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Shandong Taishan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Yue Xin arrives from Shanghai Port with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.