23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Istanbulspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Istanbulspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Mario Krstovski 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tunahan Taşçı 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 words a physio says slowly. 47 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tunahan Taşçı 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 words a physio says slowly. 54 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Krstovski 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 words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
He is going to Hatayspor, the club has $1.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Hatayspor paid $1.1M and Istanbulspor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Giresunspor pay $290.0K, 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mamadou Mendy 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.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Istanbulspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $660.0K sale of Duran Şahin
He is going to Giresunspor, the club has $660.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Giresunspor paid $660.0K and Istanbulspor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Istanbulspor have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Krstovski 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.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Istanbulspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Sambissa 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Halil Gunok has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Burak Gunok 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cengiz Dervisoglu has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dijlan Aydın 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.
48 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Krstovski 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 name of Phellipe has come up in conversations Istanbulspor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” İzzet Erdal has his answer from Istanbulspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.