“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position, and Famara Diédhiou suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Clermont Foot have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Yoann Salmier keeps the shirt for now, at Clermont Foot's convenience rather than his own.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.