The Khimik Gazette
Market20 Feb 2034
Islam Magomedov has said yes to Rubin Yalta
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Khimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market20 Feb 2034
Alexandr Popov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Feb 2034
Only the photograph left for Rashid Salimov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rashid Salimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Khimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Feb 2034
Alexandr Popov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom20 Feb 2034
334% of the income goes out in wages at Khimik
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market20 Feb 2034
Todor Bodurov attracts admirers
The name of Todor Bodurov has come up in conversations Khimik were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout20 Feb 2034
The manager makes Maxim Axyutin a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Khimik. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout20 Feb 2034
Lasha Kvilitaia 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.
Squad20 Feb 2034
Yefim Morozov is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
- Squad Manuel Castro is starting to belong
- Squad Ivan Shestakov is fit again