Ousseynou Ba

Central Defender - Basaksehir
13 Jun 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Ousseynou Ba

45 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

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 targets

Basaksehir rebuffed over Mostafa Mohamed

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 targets

Basaksehir bid $6.3M for Vedat Muriqi

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.

Market

Not going: Saba Kharebashvili stays at Basaksehir

“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.

Market

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Basaksehir

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 dugout

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.

Market

Sivasspor expected to open talks for Yusuf Sarı

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Basaksehir will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

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.

In brief

Back issues
42 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

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.

Market

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 watch

20 goals on loan for Eldor Shomurodov

28 appearances at Basaksehir and the goals keep coming. Basaksehir are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Squad

Tempers go at Basaksehir

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 dugout

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 dugout

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 dugout

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.

Market

The Festy Ebosele question follows Basaksehir around

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 dugout

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.

In brief

36 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

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.

Market

Anatole Abang asks to leave Basaksehir

“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

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basaksehir

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.

Market

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.

Squad

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 dugout

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 dugout

Ömer Ali Şahiner 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 Ömer Ali Şahiner is on it.

Market

The Festy Ebosele story refuses to die

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.

In brief

34 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

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 dugout

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 ratings

Andreas Skov Olsen runs at them all day

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Basaksehir

Ismail Jakobs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

200 appearances for Andreas Skov Olsen

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Tarık Çetin

“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 dugout

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.

Squad

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 dugout

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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Andreas Skov Olsen was unplayable

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.

Squad

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.

Market

Terms done: Anatole Abang is going

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 dugout

Anatole Abang keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basaksehir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Basaksehir

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 watch

Saba Kharebashvili counts the days

“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.

Match

Basaksehir see off Sivasspor

Three points for Basaksehir, 2‑0 the final word against Sivasspor in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

23 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Basaksehir agree $16.1M for Yunus Akgün

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 targets

Basaksehir bid $13.4M for Deniz Gül

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 targets

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.

Market

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 targets

Galatasaray tell Basaksehir: Deniz Gül is not for sale

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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Muhammed Şengezer

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

Ömer Ali Şahiner puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Muhammed Şengezer 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 Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Eyes on Jakub Kałuziński again

The phone has started ringing about Jakub Kałuziński again, and this time the name on the line is Adana Demirspor. Basaksehir are listening politely and promising nothing.

In brief

19 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Basaksehir

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 ratings

Bertuğ Yıldırım scores twice — 9.47

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 ratings

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.

Squad

Ismail Jakobs 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 Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Loan watch

Ekrem Stancic has seen enough of Adana Demirspor

“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.

Squad

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.

Squad

Abbosbek Fayzullayev is no longer first choice

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 dugout

No hiding place for Abbosbek Fayzullayev

“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 dugout

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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A falling-out at Basaksehir

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 ratings

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.

Squad

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 dugout

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.

Boardroom

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.

Match

Basaksehir and Fatih Karagumruk take a point apiece

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 dugout

Ufuk Kokcu on the point

“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 dugout

Basaksehir keep their word to Yusuf Sarı

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 dugout

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.

In brief

17 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Volkan Babacan 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basaksehir

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.

Squad

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 dugout

A promise honoured for Yusuf Özdemir

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 dugout

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 watch

Nobody is scoring past Doğan Alemdar at Dila

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 dugout

Ömer Ali Şahiner 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 Ömer Ali Şahiner is on it.

The dugout

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.

Market

The Christopher Opéri story refuses to die

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.

In brief

15 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Basaksehir

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.

Market

Erkan Tufan steps up from the Basaksehir academy

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Basaksehir against Galatasaray

0‑1 to Galatasaray, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

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 ratings

Andreas Skov Olsen beats them one at a time

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 dugout

Abbosbek Fayzullayev 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.

Loan watch

Ekrem Stancic has seen enough of Adana Demirspor

“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 dugout

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.

Market

The Festy Ebosele question follows Basaksehir around

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.

In brief

10 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Basaksehir

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Basaksehir

Ismail Jakobs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

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 ratings

Ismail Jakobs in the eights

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 dugout

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.

Squad

Volkan Babacan signs on for more

“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.

Boardroom

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 dugout

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 dugout

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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Basaksehir Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Volkan Babacan has been here 11 seasons

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.

Market

Basaksehir turn down Ankaragucu for Berat Özdemir

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Jerome Opoku stays put

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Basaksehir

Muhammed Şengezer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

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.

Market

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.

In brief