$12.6M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hull City have kept their man, and ES Setif go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and USM Khenchela waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ES Setif is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He is going to Sturm Graz, the club has $12.6M 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Setif is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Siyanda Ndlovu 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 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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 Dramane Kamagaté is on 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 ES Setif, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ES Setif know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ES Setif. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
64 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
7 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.
Dramane Kamagaté 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.
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.
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.
Marked 8.09 — 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
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Siyanda Ndlovu
52 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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.
Siyanda Ndlovu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at ES Setif training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Camara 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 8.00 — 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ES Setif has been clear about where Merouane Zerrouki stands, which is more than many ever get.
20 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
16 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
ES Setif close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 4 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mehdi Boureghda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Saint-Etienne lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Saint-Etienne people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mahmoud Jaber 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.
“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 AS Saint-Etienne, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rapid Wien keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ilan Kebbal 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 Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at AS Saint-Etienne would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marten-Chris Paalberg had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Everything agreed with AJ Auxerre, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AS Saint-Etienne will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ilan Kebbal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joshua Duffus and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 4 years.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Saint-Etienne, another week without a signature from Marius Noubissi.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Karim Cissé
Ilan Kebbal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Mahmoud Jaber 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.
“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 AS Saint-Etienne, and 10 appearances in 37 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Stassin signs something — a contract at AS Saint-Etienne or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AS Saint-Etienne. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maghnes Akliouche was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Something was said to Maghnes Akliouche and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Marius Noubissi has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adama Niane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
EA Guingamp next, and one man in the AS Saint-Etienne dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
João Ferreira 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nathan Ngoy has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Jaber 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Saint-Etienne, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.39 on the card, and the AS Saint-Etienne support went home talking about one name.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Julien Lefèvre was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AS Saint-Etienne dressing room was either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dennis Appiah has his answer from AS Saint-Etienne; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Saint-Etienne will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 AS Saint-Etienne, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Julien Lefèvre could afford to be generous.