Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aboubakary Koita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harold Moukoudi 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AEK will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Position 3, 26 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Petros Mantalos
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Dereck Kutesa decided nobody was going anywhere. AEL Larisa had no time left to answer.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A brace, and Dereck Kutesa takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dereck Kutesa provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 9 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ondrej Duda 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.
Lovro Majer 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 Ondrej Duda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AEK.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Luka Jović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
8.06. 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.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
5 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.
Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.
“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 AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Barnabás Varga 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.
8.25. 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.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
In brief
Boardroom89% of the income goes out in wages at AEK
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aboubakary Koita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ondrej Duda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Petros Mantalos
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEK 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazaros Rota 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Beaten 0‑2 by Panathinaikos in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Lovro Majer 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marios Balamotis is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
With 9 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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 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.
Lovro Majer 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 Ondrej Duda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.54 — 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.
Marked 7.45 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Panathinaikos on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEK can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ondrej Duda 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Barnabás Varga 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Bersant Celina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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 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 AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ondrej Duda 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
17 new faces, and AEK 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.
The offer from Dynamo Kyiv for Oleksandr Zubkov 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Adelaide United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Ondrej Duda delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ondrej Duda scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AEK close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 6 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Lovro Majer 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ondrej Duda 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 8 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Rukh for Jan Repas 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.
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and PAOK were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AEK will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ondrej Duda is living that version at AEK, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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 AEK, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.9M has been paid because Ondrej Duda is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The fee is $1.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Aris Thessaloniki drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer from Liepaja for Zois Karargyris 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and AEK know which stage they are at.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Aris Thessaloniki 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jeremy Antonisse has, at AEK, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
AEK offered $1.5M; PAOK 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.
Lovro Majer 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.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Jeremy Antonisse has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kervin Arriaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Squad14 new faces, and AEK are still learning each other
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mijat Gaćinović had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have shaken hands with Kifisia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
380 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The offer from Ural for Amor Layouni 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.
Add another name to the list: Empoli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mijat Gaćinović. The answer from AEK has not changed — yet.
“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 AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.