131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 for Mouhamadou Sall, marked 7.49, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mouhamadou Sall had AC Ajaccio level again within 2 minutes, and FC Nantes never got to play with a lead at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Oct 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thibault Campanini 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AC Ajaccio and RC Strasbourg in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak 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. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nacim Dendani 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 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.
“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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Elche is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AC Ajaccio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Toulouse FC is saying, and nobody at AC Ajaccio is enjoying the guessing.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AC Ajaccio heard it as anything else.
Stanis Idumbo 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nacim Dendani 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 clubs have shaken hands with Toulouse FC; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at AC Ajaccio
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
AC Ajaccio asked and Southampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Louis Legrand is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Philippe Rodriguez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Richard Paul has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Stanis Idumbo 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 22 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nacim Dendani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AC Ajaccio have made the call to Manchester City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AC Ajaccio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Toulouse FC is saying, and nobody at AC Ajaccio is enjoying the guessing.
“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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Stanis Idumbo 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. Mohamed Berzoimi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Stefan Bajić has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AC Ajaccio asked and Deportivo La Coruña said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
AC Ajaccio have made the call to FC Lorient. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Ajaccio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxence Soulet is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alpha Kubota-Sawaneh has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means AC Ajaccio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Deportivo La Coruña 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.
AC Ajaccio asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mouhamadou Sall is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at AC Ajaccio is enjoying the guessing.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Stanis Idumbo 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 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sebastian Dabrowski has, at AC Ajaccio, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Toulouse FC keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 23 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexis Busin has agreed terms with Bourg-Peronnas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Stanis Idumbo has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nacim Dendani is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: OGC Nice keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Thibault Campanini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Stade Rennais for Stanis Idumbo 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 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 AC Ajaccio hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Alavés is saying, and nobody at AC Ajaccio is enjoying the guessing.
At 23 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade Rennais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
AC Ajaccio asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Stade Rennais; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with Paris Saint-Germain, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thibault Campanini 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AC Ajaccio heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Noam Emeran has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means AC Ajaccio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Coventry City have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
51 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. AC Ajaccio had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kimi Gandziri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AC Ajaccio, another week without a signature from Marius Savidan.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marius Savidan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Ajaccio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. AC Ajaccio would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AC Ajaccio, another week without a signature from Louis Bury.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Andy Delort trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.15, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AC Ajaccio 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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
51 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AC Ajaccio, another week without a signature from Louis Bury.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Ajaccio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. AC Ajaccio would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Thomas Vincensini has written the date down.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thibault Campanini 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAlexis Busin knocks on the manager's door
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 AC Ajaccio hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Ajaccio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A season average of 7.15 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AC Ajaccio know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marowane Khalid has written the date down.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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.
AC Ajaccio asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AC Ajaccio 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.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with FC Nantes is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AC Ajaccio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
AC Ajaccio close the window on a squad of their own making
2 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.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Thibault Campanini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at RC Strasbourg is saying, and nobody at AC Ajaccio is enjoying the guessing.
$4.5M was the most the club would pay and FC Nantes 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
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.
AC Ajaccio have made the call to Queens Park Rangers. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
AC Ajaccio have gone to FC Nantes with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
AC Ajaccio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Paris Saint-Germain, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.15, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Paris Saint-Germain, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leon Beronius is living that version at AC Ajaccio, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AC Ajaccio asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ayman Kari. 2‑1 against Valenciennes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Stanis Idumbo
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AC Ajaccio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Paris Saint-Germain, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 season average of 7.38 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Marius Savidan is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. AC Ajaccio will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. AC Ajaccio had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Nacim Dendani 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. US Creteil will replay every second of the added time for a week.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.19, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timothée Kolodziejczak and AC Ajaccio agree another 1 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 AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stefan Bajić signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
41 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 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.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marius Savidan. 3‑1 against Dijon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
3 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.
Red Star will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AC Ajaccio were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 7.95 for the rest of it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AC Ajaccio heard it as anything else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AC Ajaccio and Red Star, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AC Ajaccio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 59. 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.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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.
Something was said to Thimothé David and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicolas Dumas after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marius Savidan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Chamois Niortais; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Position 1, 28 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AC Ajaccio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolas Dumas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Valenciennes will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AC Ajaccio were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Marius Savidan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.72
A mark of 9.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
4 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.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
6 goals in one match, Marius Savidan on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AC Ajaccio and Valenciennes.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
In brief
Player ratingsNacim Dendani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Marius Savidan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Nacim Dendani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AC Ajaccio.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nicolas Dumas kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
OGC Nice go through and AC Ajaccio go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
US Creteil will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AC Ajaccio were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marius Savidan did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AC Ajaccio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AC Ajaccio 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Nacim Dendani has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tours keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak 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. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guillaume Dequaire will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chamois Niortais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at AC Ajaccio 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AC Ajaccio heard it as anything else.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal with Olympique de Marseille is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stanis Idumbo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Up for the corner, and Kimi Gandziri delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kimi Gandziri scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris Saint-Germain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Clermont Foot keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The deal with OGC Nice is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nacim Dendani is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Stanis Idumbo 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 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
AC Ajaccio asked and Paris Saint-Germain 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
AC Ajaccio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Clermont Foot, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The clubs have shaken hands with Bourg-Peronnas; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Ajaccio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
AC Ajaccio and Nimes have settled on $270.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guillaume Dequaire will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kimi Gandziri is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kévin Aubeneau 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.
At 36 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
US Creteil paid $84.0K and AC Ajaccio took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with FC Nantes is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marius Savidan did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hamidou Ba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
AC Ajaccio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at LOSC Lille, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Stade Lavallois wanted more than $440.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
At 22 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.
$440.0K on the table at Stade Lavallois. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marius Savidan has written the date down.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AC Ajaccio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Paris Saint-Germain, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marius Savidan is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Guillaume Dequaire has written the date down.
The clubs have shaken hands with OGC Nice; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tours is saying, and nobody at AC Ajaccio is enjoying the guessing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
AC Ajaccio asked and Le Havre AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 easiest signature of my career.” Jean-Dominique Leca and AC Ajaccio agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
AC Ajaccio have made the call to Paris Saint-Germain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at AC Ajaccio 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.
Bourg-Peronnas have accepted the money. What AC Ajaccio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Tours, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Enrique González has just signed for AC Ajaccio, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
$2.5M settles it between the clubs for Kelvin Amian
FC Nantes have accepted the money. What AC Ajaccio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Olympique de Marseille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Timothée Kolodziejczak and AC Ajaccio agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and AC Ajaccio have no good answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Creteil waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
AC Ajaccio have gone to OGC Nice with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thibault Campanini and AC Ajaccio agree another 3 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 AC Ajaccio 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OGC Nice have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AC Ajaccio are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have shaken hands with OGC Nice; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Clermont Foot, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Amallah Kaloga has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means AC Ajaccio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AC Ajaccio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thibault Campanini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas Borodine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one AC Ajaccio will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas Borodine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AC Ajaccio know it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
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 Stanis Idumbo is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mouhamadou Sall 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.
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 AC Ajaccio that is a harder question to answer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AC Ajaccio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AC Ajaccio heard it as anything else.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Nicolas Borodine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nacim Dendani signs something — a contract at AC Ajaccio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timothée Kolodziejczak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Ajaccio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Ajaccio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexis Busin has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AC Ajaccio will try again when the window opens; FC Metz may not be selling by then.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AC Ajaccio has been clear about where Nicolas Borodine stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at AC Ajaccio 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Thimothé David has written the date down.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. US Creteil moved on, Pierre-François Moracchini reports back to AC Ajaccio, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
AC Ajaccio ran out of time with OGC Nice. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Still no offer on the table, and Pierre-François Moracchini’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis Busin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AC Ajaccio 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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with FC Metz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak 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. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AC Ajaccio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Ajaccio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Ajaccio have done the hard part with Modena, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 AC Ajaccio 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Ajaccio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolas Borodine has agreed terms with Nimes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Stanis Idumbo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AC Ajaccio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with FC Metz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs have shaken hands with FC Metz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Demba Samassa is living that version at AC Ajaccio, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Player ratingsYann Garnier was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsThe game went through Mehdi Boussaïd — 6.90
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AC Ajaccio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Stanis Idumbo 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monaco have kept their man, and AC Ajaccio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Tours scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nicolas Dumas could afford to be generous.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Thimothé David.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AC Ajaccio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. AC Ajaccio would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AC Ajaccio. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A brace, and Ayman Kari takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ayman Kari provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Ajaccio 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolas Dumas after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
Stanis Idumbo 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanis Idumbo 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at AC Ajaccio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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 8.07 — 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AC Ajaccio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 AC Ajaccio 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 Timothée Kolodziejczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolas Dumas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.