28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aduana Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Aduana Stars 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raymond Agyemang is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Daouda Sidibé 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Edmund Atiemo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Emmanuel Abban 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aduana Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aduana Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Aduana Stars asked and Bendel Insurance said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Daouda Sidibé 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aduana Stars has been clear about where Raymond Agyemang stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Aduana Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elvis Addo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Aduana Stars asked and Remo Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Kofi Asante again, and this time the name on the line is Wa All Stars. Aduana Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Aduana Stars will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Sidibé 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Aduana Stars have made the call to Bendel Insurance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Stephen Badu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Awuni 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.
Aduana Stars have made the call to Remo Stars. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bendel Insurance have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aduana Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Nasarawa United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Stephen Badu 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Harrison Addo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Afriyie Owusu 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stephen Amankona and Aduana Stars agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Stephen Kwakye again, and this time the name on the line is WAFA. Aduana Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daouda Sidibé 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 Aduana Stars, another week without a signature from Alex Boakye.
Still no offer on the table, and Stephen Amankona’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Nasarawa United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aduana Stars has been clear about where Stephen Kwakye stands, which is more than many ever get.