1‑0 against Oțelul Galați, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Bertuğ Yıldırım was at the centre of the description.
Corum FK will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basaksehir were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Roland Sallai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Bertuğ Yıldırım was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.81. 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Corum FK tried to reorganise, Basaksehir did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
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.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Doğan Alemdar knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I watch every Basaksehir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bandirmaspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Doğan Alemdar's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerome Opoku 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
12 combined actions and 6.99. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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 7.98 for the rest of it.
Eren Elmalı 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Fenerbahce wanted more than $69.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The offer from Vanspor for Atakan Çankaya 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.
Roland Sallai 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 phone has started ringing about Deniz Dilmen again, and this time the name on the line is Apollon. Basaksehir are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Emrecan Bulut 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Basaksehir $400.0K. Muhammed Şengezer left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
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 Ivan Brnić is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Goztepe for Jakub Kałuziński 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 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.
“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.
Roland Sallai 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Doğan Alemdar 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.
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.
$1.4M on the table at Antalyaspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Add another name to the list: Goztepe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jakub Kałuziński. The answer from Basaksehir has not changed — yet.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ömer Ali Şahiner has his answer from Basaksehir; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emrecan Bulut was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Basaksehir offered $69.0K; Fenerbahce said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ousseynou Ba 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adedire Mebude trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Galatasaray paid $3.8M and Basaksehir took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbosbek Fayzullayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jerome Opoku had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Basaksehir people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Basaksehir asked and Vanspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Amine Harit 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 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.
Add another name to the list: Umraniyespor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abbosbek Fayzullayev. The answer from Basaksehir has not changed — yet.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad31 May 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
15 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
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 Ivan Brnić is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Brnić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bertuğ Yıldırım and Basaksehir agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 May 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Jaiminho is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Basaksehir that is a harder question to answer.
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.
“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.
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.
12 shut-outs in 36 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Deniz Dilmen has been having a lot of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bertuğ Yıldırım trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Basaksehir, another week without a signature from Jaiminho.
“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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 64 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Samsunspor had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Basaksehir did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerome Opoku 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.
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Basaksehir.
Loan watch3 May 2027
Deniz Dilmen’s loan is measured in nothing happening
11 clean sheets from 35 appearances at Pendikspor. 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.
Something was said to Eldor Shomurodov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tolga Torun on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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.
Yusuf Yazıcı 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tolga Torun after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Basaksehir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Gaziantep will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basaksehir were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Eren Elmalı 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.
Marked 7.83. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8.22. 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Basaksehir has been clear about where Festy Ebosele stands, which is more than many ever get.
Eldor Shomurodov 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Basaksehir told Eldor Shomurodov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tolga Torun after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Eldor Shomurodov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Jerome Opoku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
7.62, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Basaksehir had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Basaksehir are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Tolga Torun could afford to be generous.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Basaksehir is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Basaksehir close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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 Basaksehir hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Basaksehir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Basaksehir.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
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.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Samsunspor had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Basaksehir did not stop to explain themselves.
1 for Jakub Kałuziński, marked 7.92, 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bertuğ Yıldırım. 3‑2 against Samsunspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Amine Harit takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amine Harit provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Jerome Opoku 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olivier Kemen 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Tolga Torun could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Basaksehir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbosbek Fayzullayev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Olivier Kemen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerome Opoku 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.87, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Tolga Torun could afford to be generous.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Something was said to Jakub Kałuziński and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
1‑4 against Fenerbahce, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Eldor Shomurodov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Olivier Kemen 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“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 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Doğan Alemdar's mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jerome Opoku 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Olivier Kemen 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Basaksehir told Bertuğ Yıldırım something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Jerome Opoku is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbosbek Fayzullayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Basaksehir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 7.92 for the rest of it.
Eldor Shomurodov 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerome Opoku 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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.
The clock did what Galatasaray would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Basaksehir until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Antalyaspor have kept their man, and Basaksehir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbosbek Fayzullayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Onur Bulut is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Basaksehir are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.