Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdoulaye Nassoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Västerås SK for Lan Jovanović 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dinamo Moscow are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The new man at Dinamo Moscow has worked with Arouna Sanganté before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Jamie Schuldes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Nassoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Dinamo Moscow game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Orel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Abdoulaye Nassoko has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
The new man at Dinamo Moscow has worked with Arouna Sanganté before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Dinamo Moscow asked and Dinamo Makhachkala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and 7 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 7.71 for the rest of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. SKA Khabarovsk moved on, Makar Vysochenko reports back to Dinamo Moscow, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Moscow can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The offer from GAIS for Lan Jovanović 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutArouna Sanganté back under a manager who knows him
Baltika will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Moscow were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Moscow have lost him in all but the paperwork.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $26.1K of what Dinamo Moscow paid for Matúš Holíček is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The offer from NK Varazdin for Lan Jovanović 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Kirill Simonov again, and this time the name on the line is Krylya Sovetov. Dinamo Moscow are listening politely and promising nothing.
Dinamo Moscow asked and Nizhniy Novgorod said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Baltika spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Nassoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitry Alexandrov and Dinamo Moscow agree another 4 years.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Moscow had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
A 3‑1 win over Krylya Sovetov, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
CSKA Moscow will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Milan Majstorović has pre-agreed a move to Dinamo Moscow, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Marked 8.45 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Płocica will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Nassoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Ben Chrisene and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Lucas Bergström is on it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lan Jovanović has just signed for Dinamo Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Nassoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Dinamo Moscow will be judged on one thing only.
Something was said to Danila Godyaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Up for the corner, and Chinaza Nwosu delivers — 7.90
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Chinaza Nwosu scored, was marked 7.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Words at Dinamo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jamie Schuldes 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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 Sergey Pinyaev is on it.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings3 Dec 2035
A brace, and Chinaza Nwosu takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chinaza Nwosu provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Płocica will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Dinamo Moscow and Orenburg in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Alexandrov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Dinamo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jamie Schuldes 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdoulaye Nassoko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Moscow needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Position 4 on 32 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Dinamo Moscow. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
4 clean sheets from 15 appearances at Nizhniy Novgorod. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Dinamo Moscow heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. CSKA Moscow on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nikita Korotkov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Artem Zmeev
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sergey Pinyaev wants continental football; whether Dinamo Moscow can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Words at Dinamo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Nassoko 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Artem Zmeev 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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nikita Korotkov on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arsenal Tula waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 7.99 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Radosław Majecki and Dinamo Moscow agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $74.3K of what Dinamo Moscow paid for Ruslan Litvinov is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Lokomotiv Moscow pay $360.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nacional have kept their man, and Dinamo Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Words at Dinamo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Nassoko 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Moscow can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
Spartak Moscow next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from Baltika for Dmitry Alexandrov 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.
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 7.90 for the rest of it.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CSKA 1948 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Dinamo Moscow asked and Hammarby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Alexandrov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Lokomotiv Moscow pay $330.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Dmitry Alexandrov 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Krylya Sovetov waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergey Pinyaev provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 7.89 for the rest of it.
The name of Rubens has come up in conversations Dinamo Moscow were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Dinamo Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Akhmat Grozny waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Dinamo Moscow and Rubin have settled on $2.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nikola Virijević has, at Dinamo Moscow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer from Arsenal Tula for Nursultan Alisherov 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.
The chase for Nikita Khvat ended with $780.0K changing hands and Akron out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
$2.4M settles it between the clubs for Artem Zmeev
Zenit have accepted the money. What Dinamo Moscow do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Dinamo Moscow have gone to Rubin 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The offer went to Akron 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Viktor Sokolov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The offer went to Akron 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Moscow had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Makar Vysochenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Zakhar Fedorov again, and this time the name on the line is Beroe. Dinamo Moscow are listening politely and promising nothing.
24 games, 4 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Dinamo Moscow now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Alexandrov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Moscow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Arsen Zakharyan’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Dinamo Moscow hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Moscow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
8 shut-outs in 26 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Maxim Shichanin has been having a lot of them.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Radosław Majecki is 35, with 386 appearances behind him, and Dinamo Moscow will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Radosław Majecki has just signed for Dinamo Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
5 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.
Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniil Golikov and Dinamo Moscow agree another 3 years.
Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 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.
8 shut-outs in 26 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Maxim Shichanin has been having a lot of them.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Arsenal Tula moved on, Nursultan Alisherov reports back to Dinamo Moscow, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chinaza Nwosu and Dinamo Moscow agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gomel will make the call about Dmitry Alexandrov this week. Dinamo Moscow have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Moscow can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergey Pinyaev. 1‑0 against Lokomotiv Moscow, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cherno More waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ilja Rodionov has, at Dinamo Moscow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer from Zenit for Marco Moreno 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Dinamo Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zenit is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Moscow is enjoying the guessing.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sochi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Krasnodar for Arsen Zakharyan 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nikita Khvat is living that version at Dinamo Moscow, and it tends to show in the first month.
$3.9M on the table at Lokomotiv Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Zenit paid $3.3M and Dinamo Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The deal with Zenit is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Zakhar Fedorov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Add another name to the list: Zenit have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arouna Sanganté. The answer from Dinamo Moscow has not changed — yet.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Moscow had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Moscow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Something was said to Sergey Pinyaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Dinamo Moscow $190.0K. David Semenchuk left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Jardell Kanga
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Yaroslav Mikhailov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dinamo Moscow have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings18 Dec 2034
Jardell Kanga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Spartak Moscow next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Position 3, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Moscow can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergey Pinyaev. 1‑0 against Baltika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Moscow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Lucas Bergström now has 100 of them across 239 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dinamo Moscow, another week without a signature from Lucas Bergström.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timur Isayev commits to Dinamo Moscow for another 4 years.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
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.” Nikita Korotkov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Nazarenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Beaten 0‑1 by CSKA Moscow in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rodrigo Bentancur and Dinamo Moscow agree another 2 years.
Position 3, 36 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nikita Korotkov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marco Moreno is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dinamo Moscow told Sergey Pinyaev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutArouna Sanganté has become a man the manager trusts
Dinamo Vladivostok are out and Dinamo Moscow go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Zakhar Fedorov scored in the 87th minute, Zenit had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Dinamo Moscow took the lot.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Daniil Golikov 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.
“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 Dinamo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dinamo Makhachkala spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Jardell Kanga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Akron will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Moscow were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
The dugoutArouna Sanganté has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Dinamo Moscow man
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Dinamo Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Sep 2034
Words at Dinamo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Nassoko 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” FC Košice had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Daniil Chevardin has, at Dinamo Moscow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Moscow have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Akron have accepted the money. What Dinamo Moscow do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sergey Pinyaev wants continental football; whether Dinamo Moscow can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Dinamo Moscow and a story that will outlast his contract.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $477.7K — a club that wants Daniil Chevardin enough to be asked twice.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Moscow have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Dinamo Moscow heard it as anything else.
The offer went to Akron 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.
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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Spartak Moscow on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSKA Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and CSKA Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Glushenkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSKA Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The chase for Sergey Varatynov ended with $1.5M changing hands and Lokomotiv Moscow out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sergey Varatynov has just signed for CSKA Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
Marco Carnesecchi 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.
Squad24 Jul 2034
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Rakov 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Dinamo Moscow have paid $10.2M for Sergey Pinyaev, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Moscow have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sergey Pinyaev has, at Dinamo Moscow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Akron is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
1 for Chinaza Nwosu, marked 7.78, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Aston Villa paid $24.4M and Lokomotiv Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $3.8M of what Lokomotiv Moscow paid for Sergey Pinyaev is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Mason Melia has gone, the accounts have $24.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Nizhniy Novgorod kept coming because nothing stopped them, and CSKA Moscow will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The offer from Zenit for Matthis Abline 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.
CSKA Moscow have gone to Lokomotiv Moscow 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rodina waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CSKA Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
CSKA Moscow and Lokomotiv Moscow have settled on $1.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dmitry Vasiljev scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Dinamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Moscow have settled on $10.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $522.6K of what Dinamo Moscow paid for Miro is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Zenit paid $2.3M and Dinamo Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Dinamo Moscow asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sochi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Dinamo Moscow asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Slavia Mozyr had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer went to Akron 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jardell Kanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dinamo Moscow, another week without a signature from Arouna Sanganté.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zenit waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Lokomotiv Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lorenzo Depuidt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dinamo Moscow wanted more than $64.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Mason Melia 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Djael Akloe and Lokomotiv Moscow agree another 3 years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
CSKA Moscow paid $20.2M and Lokomotiv Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ilja Yeremeev has gone, the accounts have $20.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The name of Yaroslav Gladyshev has come up in conversations Lokomotiv Moscow were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Gladyshev 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Frenkie Promes has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
A whole season of being the finest 19-year-old anybody in this league could put on a pitch. Lokomotiv Moscow have him, and everybody else now knows it.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Lokomotiv Moscow will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Artem Karpukas 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Kokarev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Djael Akloe has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramiz Harakaté will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Moscow the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Gladyshev 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.
Nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lokomotiv Moscow. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.