The Neftchi Sentinel
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Imad Faraj
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Neftchi
Rubert Quijada 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dušan Cvetinović gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Neftchi
12 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Neftchi buy the years ahead of Shahriyar Nadirov
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad14 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Diego Virrueta
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Neftchi will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
- Match Point won or two lost for Neftchi?
- Market The window shut and Elvin Camalov is still in the building
- Player ratings Sessi D'Almeida spends the afternoon fouling
- Market José Quevedo linked with a move away