A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alanyaspor 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 Alanyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Meschack Elia. 2‑0 against Giresunspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.30. 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Meschack Elia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Necip Uysal 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Giresunspor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nuno Lima signs something — a contract at Alanyaspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alanyaspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kasimpasa go through and Alanyaspor go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Hwang Ui-Jo 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.
Fatih Karagumruk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 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 Salih Erkin left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ianis Hagi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alanyaspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alanyaspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Güven Yalçın’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Alanyaspor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Alanyaspor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A side in position 9 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alanyaspor 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 Alanyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alanyaspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alanyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Paulo Victor has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Alanyaspor 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alanyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alanyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulo Victor, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 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 Salih Erkin to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alanyaspor told Hwang Ui-Jo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Besiktas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alanyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alanyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mortadha Ben Ouannes 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 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout19 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Salih Erkin to a room that had heard them before.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Necip Uysal 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.
Something was said to Pavlo Isenko and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kayserispor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Alanyaspor have no good answer.
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 Ertuğrul Taşkıran has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Alanyaspor the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Next up on the road: Kayserispor, position 10. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Alanyaspor scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alanyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Ianis Hagi 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.
Basaksehir left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 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 Salih Erkin to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Efecan Karaca’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Alanyaspor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Alanyaspor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
Player ratingsMeschack Elia beats them one at a time
Steve Mounié 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Alanyaspor dressing room in a hurry
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alanyaspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.01 — 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Viana, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Fidan Aliti's mistake
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alanyaspor are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Salih Erkin after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Paulo Victor
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alanyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Alanyaspor 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.
Alanyaspor offered $81.0K; Antalyaspor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Meschack Elia 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Mortadha Ben Ouannes’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“62 caps was 62 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 34 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Alanyaspor.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Alanyaspor 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Alanyaspor have paid $1.4M for Mortadha Ben Ouannes, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $83.4K — a club that wants Erdoğan Yeşilyurt enough to be asked twice.
$79.0K on the table at Antalyaspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Alanyaspor asked and Fenerbahce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mortadha Ben Ouannes 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 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A brace, and Ianis Hagi takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ianis Hagi provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Alanyaspor asked and Galatasaray said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Maestro was one of the reasons people came, and $5.2M does not replace that by itself.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alanyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Yusuf Barasi is in the works
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alanyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Besiktas have kept their man, and Alanyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ankaragucu had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Yusuf Özdemir was one of the reasons people came, and $4.3M does not replace that by itself.
The offer went to Basaksehir this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.2M — a club that wants Muhammed Şengezer enough to be asked twice.
The offer from Konyaspor for Yusuf Özdemir 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.
The phone has started ringing about Ruan again, and this time the name on the line is Kayserispor. Alanyaspor are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with Besiktas 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.
Ianis Hagi 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. Can Dervisoglu 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gokhan Kahveci 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.
5 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.
Gaïus Makouta 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Gaïus Makouta’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Universitatea Craiova 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alanyaspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.