It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Astana can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edmilson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Marin Tomasov is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astana 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 Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Bekbolat 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 at Astana 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.
Edmilson 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 Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Astana 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.
Edmilson 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.
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.
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 shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Ian Vorogovskiy plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Edmilson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Älibek Qasym falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Marin Tomasov is on it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Astana would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Astana would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
44 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
In brief
The dugoutArtem Ntumba knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marin Tomasov commits to Astana for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Edmilson 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 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.
Edmilson 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 Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Astana 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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Nikola Burić has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadKarlo Bartolec is training like a man with a point to make
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Astana 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.
Position 5 on 44 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Successful dribbles: 58. 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 words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Tobol go through and Astana 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Astana 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: Benevento keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Edmilson 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Älibek Qasym falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Kipras Kažukolovas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Astana 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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Astana the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vicenza is saying, and nobody at Astana is enjoying the guessing.
Edmilson 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 fee is $110.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tobol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 at Astana 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Zira had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deal with Tobol 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 Ascoli is saying, and nobody at Astana is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Astana 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about Vladislav Yakovlev again, and this time the name on the line is Zira. Astana are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Astana spend $900.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $900.0K for Ismail Bekbolat, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ordabasy Beysebekov 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. Serikzhan Suyumbayev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Älibek Qasym falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 44 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deal with Kairat 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Edmilson 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.
Astana asked and Rosario Central said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marin Tomasov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
At 15 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 first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tobol; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monaco have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Abzal Beisebekov.
In brief
The dugoutMarin Tomasov has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from Zira for Vladislav Yakovlev 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.
Ramazan Kärimov has gone, the accounts have $930.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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 7.99 for the rest of it.
Kairat paid $930.0K and Astana took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Marin Tomasov 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Edmilson at his very best
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Edmilson
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kairat had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vladislav Yakovlev has, at Astana, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Volga did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.2M for Vladislav Yakovlev, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Edmilson wants continental football; whether Astana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Erbol Dosmagambetov obliged against Zhetysu. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Astana.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astana can pretend not to have heard.
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Volga 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$1.4M was the most the club would pay and Kairat 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Astana have gone to Shakhter 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.
Astana offered $35.0K; Atyrau 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Ordabasy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nnamdi Ahanonu. The answer from Astana has not changed — yet.
Successful dribbles: 42. 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Maxim Shomko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Ian Vorogovskiy is on it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Okzhetpes? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Position 3, 29 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana 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 Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 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.
Marin Tomasov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 2‑1 win over Aktobe, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Maxim Shomko, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Stanislav Basmanov is on it.
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.
Taraz next, and one man in the Astana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marin Tomasov 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 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.” Maxim Shomko kept it short after the 4‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Marin Tomasov is on it.
Marin Tomasov 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: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
20 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 dugout17 May 2027
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 Maxim Shomko left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.55 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Edmilson 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samat Orazov 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.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Maxim Shomko could afford to be generous.
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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramazan Kärimov. 1‑0 against Tobol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Maxim Shomko on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Maxim Shomko on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Astana 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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Tobol.
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edmilson. 2‑0 against Akzhaiyk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Maxim Shomko, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Ian Vorogovskiy is on it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Baktiyor Murtazaev 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
14 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Astana told Älibek Qasym something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Karlo Bartolec is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Marin Tomasov 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.
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 Marin Tomasov is on 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Marat Kuat falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Okzhetpes? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Älibek Qasym 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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Edmilson 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. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Älibek Qasym falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Astana told Edmilson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mükhammedzhan Seisen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Astana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Dinamo Makhachkala wanted more than $4.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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.
Karlo Bartolec 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aibol Taykenov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
$4.2M on the table at Dinamo Makhachkala. 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Astana ran out of time with Shakhter. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Astana than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Astana and Shakhter have settled on $610.0K. 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.
Astana asked and Fakel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Artem Ntumba has, at Astana, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Andijon is saying, and nobody at Astana is enjoying the guessing.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $330.0K has been paid because Artem Ntumba is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The offer went to Zhetysu 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.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Älibek Qasym falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Edmilson arrives at Astana in a $730.0K statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Astana have paid $730.0K for Edmilson, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
$330.0K on the table at Rubin Yalta. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Marin Tomasov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
Astana spend $730.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $730.0K for Edmilson, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
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. Astana will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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 Marin Tomasov is on it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Marat Kuat falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Astana have gone to Kairat 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Kairat 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zhetysu have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gafurzhan Nurgaliev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ordabasy Suyumbayev 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.
Marin Tomasov 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 Älibek Qasym 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. Kairat have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Astana 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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
Älibek Qasym 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 Älibek Qasym trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Kuat 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 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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Marin Tomasov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Nurbol Orazov are not good
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 Marin Tomasov is on it.
In brief
The dugoutÄlibek Qasym asks for a word with the manager
Karlo Bartolec 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gafurzhan Taykenov 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.
Nobody at Astana 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 Ramazan Kärimov has written the date down.
Marin Tomasov 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.
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Marat Kuat falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Nnamdi Ahanonu 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.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Nobody at Astana 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.
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.
Karlo Bartolec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 at Astana 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 Ramazan Kärimov has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erbol Murtazaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Karlo Bartolec 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Erbol Murtazaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Erbol Shomko 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.
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 Stanislav Basmanov is on it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Kuat 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 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 Ramazan Kärimov has written the date down.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mükhammedzhan Seisen and Astana agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Älibek Qasym 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Astana will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astana 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 Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Älibek Qasym 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 at Astana 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.
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.
Karlo Bartolec 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.
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 Marin Tomasov is on it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Astana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Kuat 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 Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
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 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 Ramazan Kärimov has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marin Tomasov 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 Nov 2026
Älibek Qasym falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kairat Nuserbayev 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Karlo Bartolec 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.
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 Marin Tomasov 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Astana could ask drops and the wages Ivan Bašić can ask rise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Älibek Qasym was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Astana 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Astana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Astana could ask drops and the wages Branimir Kalaica can ask rise.
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 Astana have no good answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marat Kuat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
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 Ivan Bašić is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marin Tomasov 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 a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Astana 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.
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. Mükhammedzhan Seisen has moved up it.
Nobody at Astana 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 Astana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Astana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Astana could ask drops and the wages Ivan Bašić can ask rise.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Astana the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Astana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lecco, 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 Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Astana asked and San Martín SJ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Stanislav Basmanov is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Astana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Astana spent the window trying to move Ivan Bašić on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Marin Tomasov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Astana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Potenza, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Branimir Kalaica has agreed terms with Shakhter for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Astana will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Astana 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 Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Askhat Kuat 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.
Ordabasy go through and Astana go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Trento 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 Astana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout7 Sep 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 Maxim Shomko left the room before anybody could ask which.
Astana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at APOEL, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer went to Kairat 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo La Coruña have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Astana 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astana can pretend not to have heard.
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Aktobe 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pyunik is saying, and nobody at Astana is enjoying the guessing.
Karlo Bartolec 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.
Kairat will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jorginho has pre-agreed a move to Astana, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pyunik is saying, and nobody at Astana is enjoying the guessing.
Marin Tomasov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ordabasy will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Yurii Vakulko has pre-agreed a move to Astana, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Everything agreed with Benevento, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Astana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nauryzbek Zhagorov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Astana have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yeldos Nurgaliev 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Islambek Nuserbayev 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. Samat Nurgaliev 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. Serikzhan Abiken is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Utenis for Ivan Bašić 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.
Marin Tomasov 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 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. Astana will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.