Arnaud David

Goalkeeper - Sliema Wanderers
27 Sep 2028
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Arnaud David

111 Edition

The Sliema Wanderers Herald

11 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Gustavo

27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

A brace, and Luca Bonin takes the afternoon — 8.53

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luca Bonin provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Emeka Kelvin Agu

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Arnaud David asks to leave Sliema Wanderers

“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.

Squad

Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uroš Đuranović 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Luca Bonin

At 22 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.

Match

Sliema Wanderers get the job done against Hamrun Spartans

A 2‑0 win over Hamrun Spartans, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Tempers go at Sliema Wanderers

Jake Micallef 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.

Market

The Uroš Đuranović story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Đuranović signs something — a contract at Sliema Wanderers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

Back issues
106 Edition

The Sliema Wanderers Herald

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Gustavo damages knee ligaments — 63 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.

Squad

Luca Bonin is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Squad

Lucas Scicluna stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Scicluna and Sliema Wanderers agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Sliema Wanderers

Emeka Kelvin Agu 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.

Market

Sliema Wanderers buy the years ahead of Arnaud David

He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Market

The Marcelo talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sliema Wanderers know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief