Marked for Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Anhá Candé is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Asteras has been clear about where Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Mendieta, and the manager let it.
Market23 Aug 2027
Experience through the door at Asteras
Amor Layouni arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Anger at Asteras spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market9 Aug 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Carles Soria 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Asteras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Triantafyllos Tsapras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miki Muñoz and Asteras agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan move for Youssouph Badji is in the works
Asteras have made the call to AGF. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Asteras
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Franco Orozco 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Asteras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oriol Rosell 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 dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Oriol Rosell
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
The knee: Lovro Majkić out for 27 days
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Asteras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Mar 2027
66 days out for Junior Mendieta after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Asteras will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Asteras can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Asteras
Mady Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
The mood at Asteras has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Asteras, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Asteras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Asteras
5 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything was agreed with Volos NPS and then the doctor spoke. Asteras have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Market25 Jan 2027
Asteras say no — this time
The offer from Maritzburg United for Anhá Candé 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Jan 2027
Panathinaikos paid $510.0K and Asteras took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.