Nahuel Curcio 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malick Berté 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position, and İbrahim Yılmaz suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Ararat have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Joseph Sabobo
Back issues
27Edition
The Ararat Post
1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Ararat close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 0 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iago Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Ararat know which stage they are at.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Nahuel Curcio arrives from Colón with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ararat can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat 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. Pakhtakor have kept their man, and Ararat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Ararat know it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
11 new faces, and Ararat 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.
San Martín SJ 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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Joseph Sabobo arrives from Alashkert with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Urartu had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Umut Dilek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ararat will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aminu Sani has, at Ararat, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Umut Dilek 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 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.
Ararat asked and Urartu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Levon Spertsyan 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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ararat have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iago Oliveira 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Umut Dilek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Khachumyan 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.
Ararat asked and Noah 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marquinhos Pedroso 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat 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 Marquinhos Pedroso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Ararat can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ararat would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Umut Dilek 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 Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ararat would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patrick Handzongo commits to Ararat for another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabinho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Ararat know it.
6 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.
Umut Dilek 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 Fabinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Umut Dilek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ararat, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ararat would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ernest Kacou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Esposito is living that version at Ararat, and it tends to show in the first month.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Bayramyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artak Grigoryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat 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 Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Ararat game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Taraz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Umut Dilek 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Ararat 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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ararat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Umut Dilek 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 20 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.
In brief
SquadNikita Lobusov has improved at 24, which nobody expected
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mkhitar Spertsyan 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ararat will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
SquadErando Karabeci falls out with a teammate over standards
Umut Dilek 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 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Ararat 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Ararat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamine Fofana 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Uruguay Montevideo is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Umut Dilek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ararat, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ernest Kacou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Fenix is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Ararat close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 2 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.
The deal with Uruguay Montevideo 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Temperley is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Joseph Sabobo has moved up it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ararat have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ararat have done the hard part with Temperley, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Central Espanol keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Umut Dilek 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.
Ararat asked and APOEL said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
7 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ararat 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 Temperley is saying, and nobody at Ararat is enjoying the guessing.
Umut Dilek 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 phone has started ringing about Ernest Kacou again, and this time the name on the line is Shirak. Ararat are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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.
The dugout24 Aug 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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Gevorg Grigoryan to a room that had heard them before.
Ararat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AGMK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ararat asked and Alashkert said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Central Espanol 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 Ararat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ararat 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 Ararat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Umut Dilek 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.
$13.0K was the most the club would pay and Noah were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Artur Haroyan 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edgar Haroyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Patrick Handzongo again, and this time the name on the line is Shirak. Ararat are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ararat know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Still no offer on the table, and Adama Méïté’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.