Marked for Ousseynou Ba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Trabzonspor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Basaksehir did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Konyaspor have kept their man, and Basaksehir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The offer went to Fenerbahce this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Trabzonspor had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Jun 2027
Ousseynou Ba 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 Basaksehir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Ismail Jakobs 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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Yusuf Özdemir
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Basaksehir will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Jakub Kałuziński falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
25 days out for Abdullah Yiğiter after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Basaksehir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 May 2027
Yusuf Sarı 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 Basaksehir can pretend not to have heard.
Loan watch17 May 2027
28 appearances at Basaksehir and the goals keep coming. Basaksehir are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad17 May 2027
Eren Elmalı 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Ousseynou Ba 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Doğan Alemdar 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Anatole Abang gets picked when it counts
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 Anatole Abang is on it.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Festy Ebosele’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes Yusuf Özdemir a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Basaksehir. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Abdullah Yiğiter out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Basaksehir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Basaksehir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jerome Opoku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Yusuf Özdemir 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Doğan Alemdar is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Basaksehir has been clear about where Doğan Alemdar stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ousseynou Ba slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ousseynou Ba is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Ousseynou Ba 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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 Ömer Ali Şahiner is on it.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Festy Ebosele signs something — a contract at Basaksehir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Abdullah Yiğiter out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Basaksehir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Volkan Babacan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basaksehir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Ismail Jakobs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tarık Çetin, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Ousseynou Ba left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ousseynou Ba will call it something else in private.
Squad22 Mar 2027
International break empties Basaksehir
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Davie Selke 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad15 Feb 2027
56 days out for Fousseni Diabaté after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Basaksehir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Canon Yaounde waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Basaksehir is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basaksehir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Ismail Jakobs goes up and wins it — 7.78
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Yusuf Özdemir 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Basaksehir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pyunik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for Basaksehir, 2‑0 the final word against Sivasspor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Galatasaray; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The offer went to Galatasaray this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
An offer of $11.3M for Eren Elmalı
Basaksehir have gone to Galatasaray 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Alanyaspor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Basaksehir did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 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 Basaksehir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 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 Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Dec 2026
Adana Demirspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basaksehir were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Eldor Shomurodov takes the afternoon — 9.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eldor Shomurodov provided it, and the 9.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“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 Basaksehir, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Özdemir 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abbosbek Fayzullayev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abbosbek Fayzullayev, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Ufuk Kokcu: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ismail Jakobs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Amine Harit beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbosbek Fayzullayev 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ousseynou Ba
“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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 92% of the Basaksehir income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ufuk Kokcu after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Anatole Abang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Basaksehir 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basaksehir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ismail Jakobs 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Abbosbek Fayzullayev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Basaksehir told Yusuf Özdemir something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Volkan Babacan
“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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
7 shut-outs in 7 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Doğan Alemdar has been having a lot of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Ömer Ali Şahiner is on it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ousseynou Ba knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ousseynou Ba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Opéri signs something — a contract at Basaksehir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Festy Ebosele 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Erkan Tufan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Galatasaray, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Abbosbek Fayzullayev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“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 Basaksehir, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ufuk Kokcu left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Festy Ebosele’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
Sivasspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basaksehir were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ismail Jakobs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Basaksehir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Özdemir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ousseynou Ba
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volkan Babacan and Basaksehir agree another 1 years.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 99% of the Basaksehir income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ufuk Kokcu kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
A promise honoured for Emin Bayram
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Basaksehir told Emin Bayram something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
321 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jerome Opoku and Basaksehir agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Muhammed Şengezer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ousseynou Ba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Jerome Opoku's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.