Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Saminu Abdullahi has, at Akhmat, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The fee is $580.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. KAMAZ drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Akhmat 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.
Akhmat asked and Dinamo Moscow 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 watch every Akhmat game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ural runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergey Balandin 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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Brian Mansilla’s exile
Squad6 new faces, and Akhmat are still learning each other
The dugoutEgas Cacintura asks for a word with the manager
The deal that would have taken Maksim Samorodov to CSKA Moscow has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Akhmat with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Akhmat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akhmat have done the hard part with KAMAZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rai Vloet
27Edition
The Akhmat Chronicle
1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Match30 Jan 2027
Júlio Romão wins it after the whistle should have gone
96 minutes played. Júlio Romão found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Baltika went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The offer from Puskas Akademia for Egas Cacintura 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Júlio Romão delivers — 7.69
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Júlio Romão scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The deal with Orenburg 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Dinamo Moscow have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Galymzhan Kenzhebek. The answer from Akhmat has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Pinyaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Slovan Bratislava had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Akhmat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Arsen Adamov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitriy Afanasyev and Akhmat agree another 3 years.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Evgeny Kerzhakov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Klisman Cake is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat 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.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Up for the corner, and Júlio Romão delivers — 7.96
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Júlio Romão scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Arsen Adamov 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Akhmat and Akron in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
5 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.
1 for Júlio Romão, marked 7.78, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Akhmat, and 0 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
He is going to Caracas, the club has $3.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Sergey Pinyaev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lechi Sadulaev 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 games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.60 on the card, and the Akhmat support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Evgeny Kerzhakov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Akhmat dressing room was either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Akhmat can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
10 goals in 21 games at Rodina — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Akhmat updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Rostov the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Akhmat will enjoy reviewing.
Arsen Adamov 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.
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev 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 2‑2 draw with Rostov leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Evgeny Kerzhakov was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Akhmat dressing room was either.
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 Daniil Khlusevich is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat 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 Lechi Sadulaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Akhmat, and 5 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Evgeny Kerzhakov to a room that had heard them before.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Júlio Romão
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Júlio Romão has come out of that comparison in the side, and Akhmat have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Akhmat can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Arsen Adamov 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akhmat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 49. 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Mohamed Konaté wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Mohamed Konaté found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sochi went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lechi Sadulaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergey Pinyaev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akhmat told Ismael something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Evgeny Kerzhakov could afford to be generous.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Brian Mansilla’s exile
Egas Cacintura and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev 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.
15 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Evgeny Kerzhakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Akhmat 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Georgy Melkadze’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Akhmat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Sergey Pinyaev 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.
“I watch every Akhmat game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shinnik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Arsen Adamov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lechi Sadulaev 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Rubin scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Akhmat are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Evgeny Kerzhakov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergey Pinyaev did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Arsen Adamov 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergey Pinyaev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergey Pinyaev. 1‑0 against Baltika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat 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.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Evgeny Kerzhakov to a room that had heard them before.
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 Georgy Melkadze is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Egas Cacintura signs something — a contract at Akhmat or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 goals in one match, Galymzhan Kenzhebek on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Akhmat and Irtysh.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lechi Sadulaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Galymzhan Kenzhebek has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market28 Sep 2026
Akhmat may not be able to give Ismael what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ismael wants continental football; whether Akhmat can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Arsen Adamov 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 Sergey Pinyaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Sergey Pinyaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lechi Sadulaev 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Evgeny Kerzhakov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Akhmat dressing room was either.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maksim Samorodov signs something — a contract at Akhmat or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Brian Mansilla’s exile
7Edition
The Akhmat Chronicle
14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Akhmat 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.
Sergey Pinyaev 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 Lechi Sadulaev 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. Krylya Sovetov have kept their man, and Akhmat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Akhmat will try again when the window opens; Lokomotiv Moscow may not be selling by then.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Galymzhan Kenzhebek commits to Akhmat for another 4 years.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Mohamed Konaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ural waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akhmat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Ahli is saying, and nobody at Akhmat is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Pinyaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Akhmat who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Akhmat will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The chase for Sergey Pinyaev ended with $8.4M changing hands and Lokomotiv Moscow out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Ittihad is saying, and nobody at Akhmat is enjoying the guessing.
Arsen Adamov 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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lechi Sadulaev 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.
Akhmat asked and Al Ain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The offer from Nizhniy Novgorod for Maksim Samorodov 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.
$8.4M on the table at Lokomotiv Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The shirt still fits. Kirill Folmer is back at Akhmat, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Everything agreed with Al-Ittihad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Ittihad is saying, and nobody at Akhmat is enjoying the guessing.
Arsen Adamov 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maksim Samorodov provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Dinamo Moscow for Lechi Sadulaev 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akhmat have done the hard part with Volga, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Akhmat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spartak Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Dinamo Makhachkala, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Galymzhan Kenzhebek 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.
Everything agreed with La Equidad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Arsen Adamov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yakov Lipatov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dmitri Golovin 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. Fyodor Mamonov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dmitry Zuev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. CSKA Moscow had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
In brief
SquadRai Vloet falls out with a teammate over standards
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat 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.
Minute 92, against Sochi, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akhmat, another week without a signature from Giorgi Shelia.