The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
29 goals and a season average of 7.72 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
A brace, and Franculino takes the afternoon — 9.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franculino provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davie Selke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Václav Černý 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Franculino. 3‑1 against Gaziantep, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
34 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Besiktas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Noah Saviolo obliged against Ankaragucu. 4‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Besiktas.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ümit Akdağ will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
In brief
MatchNoah Saviolo among the goals in a wild afternoon
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑0 against TSC, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Saviolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Ferdi Kadıoğlu, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
32 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Václav Černý 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
4‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leandro Trossard provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
30 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ümit Akdağ will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Besiktas and Alanyaspor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besiktas 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 Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
With 8 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
A 2‑0 win over Antalyaspor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Franculino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.72. 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.
4‑2 against Austria Wien, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Besiktas and Austria Wien, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mustafa Hekimoğlu has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
29 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davie Selke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Franculino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
0‑1 against VfB Stuttgart. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas 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: Milot Rashica. 1‑0 against Trabzonspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Emmanuel Agbadou will call it something else in private.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Besiktas have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
A brace, and Franculino takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franculino provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Václav Černý 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Élan Ricardo 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.
8 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Franculino. 1‑0 against Konyaspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
27 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Besiktas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 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.
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.94, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Besiktas 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Besiktas can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ümit Akdağ will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
26 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Saviolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Ali Al Musrati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Rıdvan Yılmaz has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“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 Besiktas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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 Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Aug 2030
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Besiktas
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Serdar Tosun has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ozan Bayindir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Work is signed off on a capacity of 46419. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
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.
Ali Al Musrati 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 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Cengiz Yildiz is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
11 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.
Besiktas offered $7.9M; Basaksehir 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basaksehir have kept their man, and Besiktas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Nobody at Besiktas 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Besiktas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Kacper Kozłowski has written the date down.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hatayspor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$7.9M on the table at Basaksehir. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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 Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Besiktas can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kasimpasa have kept their man, and Besiktas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Élan Ricardo 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 Franculino is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leandro Trossard signs something — a contract at Besiktas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The offer from Antalyaspor for Cenk Özkacar 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Meschack Elia is living that version at Besiktas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Ali Al Musrati 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 Leandro Trossard is on it.
The offer from Trabzonspor for Leandro Trossard 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Ferdi Kadıoğlu is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Besiktas would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Besiktas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Saviolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Emmanuel Agbadou 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amir Murillo signs something — a contract at Besiktas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
40 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Bayer Leverkusen will make the call about Franculino this week. Besiktas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ali Al Musrati 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.
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 Franculino is on it.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Semih Kılıçsoy is somebody else's player now, and $2.9M has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander Nübel signs something — a contract at Besiktas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Besiktas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 2, 92 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.
Besiktas offered $1.0M; Gaziantep 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Besiktas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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.
$4.7M on the table at Gaziantep. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kerem Aktürkoğlu 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.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
25 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Besiktas had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Saviolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Besiktas support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
In brief
Squad22 clean sheets and the golden glove for Alexander Nübel
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Milot Rashica 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 Besiktas 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Besiktas that is a harder question to 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 Salih Malkoçoğlu has written the date down.
92 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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 Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Leandro Trossard is on it.
Ferdi Kadıoğlu has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Ferdi Kadıoğlu is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Saviolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Besiktas 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kacper Kozłowski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
24 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Position 2, 89 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besiktas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Élan Ricardo 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Besiktas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
Franculino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Amir Murillo
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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 Cenk Özkacar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Besiktas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Milot Rashica 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Václav Černý 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.
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Sivasspor spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsKerem Aktürkoğlu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
1‑0 against KAA Gent, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Besiktas will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Saviolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besiktas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu 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 Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
MatchAfter 5 games, Besiktas finally taste it again
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
Chibuike Nwaiwu 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Position 2, 69 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.37 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Besiktas offered $5.3M; Kasimpasa 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Besiktas have gone to Kasimpasa 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Besiktas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The fee is $2.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Trabzonspor drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Salih Malkoçoğlu is living that version at Besiktas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kacper Kozłowski obliged against Sivasspor. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Besiktas.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Besiktas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 2, 59 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Kacper Kozłowski scored in the 89th minute, Sivasspor had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Besiktas took the lot.
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The offer from Konyaspor for Cenk Özkacar 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.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The shirt still fits. Serdar Saatçı is back at Besiktas, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Serdar Saatçı has just signed for Besiktas, and for once the answer mattered.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu 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.
5‑0, and Kerem Aktürkoğlu took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Besiktas tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
A brace, and Franculino takes the afternoon — 9.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franculino provided it, and the 9.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2030
$2.0M settles it between the clubs for Serdar Saatçı
Trabzonspor have accepted the money. What Besiktas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Besiktas have had the benefit of it.
7.89, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
3‑0, and Franculino took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Besiktas tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
A brace, and Franculino takes the afternoon — 9.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franculino provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 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.
150 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Milot Rashica 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 2, 47 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.
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.
Milot Rashica 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Franculino. 2‑1 against Fatih Karagumruk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
3‑2 against Espanyol, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Franculino was at the centre of the description.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Espanyol spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Václav Černý 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.
Ankaragucu will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Besiktas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5‑1 against Zwolle, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Besiktas and Zwolle, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
12 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Oh Hyeon-Gyu obliged against Umraniyespor. 4‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Besiktas.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
3‑0 against Thun, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besiktas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Václav Černý. 1‑0 against Kasimpasa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Václav Černý was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Besiktas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Two goals and a mark of 9.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Franculino scored in the 86th minute, Sivasspor had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Besiktas took the lot.
6 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.
A season average of 7.43 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Milot Rashica 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Nobody at Besiktas 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 goals in one match, Franculino on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Besiktas and Alanyaspor.
Václav Černý 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 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.27 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas 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 Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Franculino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Besiktas had all but put away. Fenerbahce will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rıdvan Yılmaz 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.
5‑0 against Zwolle, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Václav Černý 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.
Marked 8.20 — 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Besiktas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oguzhan Karaman after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutFerdi Kadıoğlu has become a man the manager trusts
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑0 against Hatayspor, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
A brace, and Franculino takes the afternoon — 9.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franculino provided it, and the 9.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Besiktas and Hatayspor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Besiktas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
8 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Besiktas 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Besiktas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 9.33 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Adana Demirspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Besiktas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kerem Aktürkoğlu provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match18 Aug 2029
Another one collected away from home
7 on the bounce on the road for Besiktas. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Besiktas and Adana Demirspor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Fatih Karagumruk; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Milot Rashica 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 Besiktas 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.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Add another name to the list: Konyaspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cenk Özkacar. The answer from Besiktas has not changed — yet.
The offer from Hatayspor for Tuna Demir 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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 Kerem Aktürkoğlu is on it.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Besiktas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Besiktas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tuna Demir is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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.
Add another name to the list: Hatayspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tuna Demir. The answer from Besiktas has not changed — yet.
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. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Franculino is on it.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Union Berlin for Davie Selke 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Trossard is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Václav Černý signs something — a contract at Besiktas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Noah Saviolo a promise
BoardroomThe Besiktas production line keeps running
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Besiktas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Gaziantep 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Davie Selke has just signed for Besiktas, and for once the answer mattered.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu 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.
Adana Demirspor paid $1.2M and Besiktas took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kerem Aktürkoğlu is on it.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Besiktas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Sivasspor pay $870.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
Mustafa Hekimoğlu 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.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Besiktas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Konyaspor for Cenk Özkacar 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Besiktas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besiktas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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 Besiktas 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Onur Bulut
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besiktas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Besiktas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Alanyaspor paid $1.3M and Besiktas took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
Add another name to the list: Sivasspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cumali Gürsel. The answer from Besiktas has not changed — yet.
Nobody at Besiktas 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
$6.3M was the most the club would pay and Konyaspor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro Trossard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Václav Černý is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
53 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Besiktas have had the benefit of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Václav Černý 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 May 2029
Words at Besiktas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdi Kadıoğlu 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 Besiktas 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I watch every Besiktas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gaziantep runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Besiktas 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ferdi Kadıoğlu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Václav Černý signs something — a contract at Besiktas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noah Saviolo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Besiktas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Besiktas told Cenk Özkacar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Kerem Aktürkoğlu is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Wilfred Ndidi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besiktas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
53 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Derby days make names, and Václav Černý made his against Galatasaray. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besiktas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Václav Černý scored in the 89th minute, Galatasaray had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Besiktas took the lot.
5 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.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Besiktas supporters have already started telling it.
4 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
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.
52 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Ali Al Musrati 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 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Franculino decided nobody was going anywhere. Basaksehir had no time left to answer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu 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 Leandro Trossard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 8 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
In brief
Player ratingsFranculino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
50 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
1‑0 against Ankaragucu, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Václav Černý 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 Ferdi Kadıoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Besiktas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Milot Rashica 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
49 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Milot Rashica 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.
48 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
5‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kerem Aktürkoğlu provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The first defeat in 13 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Alanyaspor; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Václav Černý 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
SquadFerdi Kadıoğlu falls out with a teammate over standards
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leandro Trossard provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.
In brief
SquadVáclav Černý falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsKerem Aktürkoğlu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsVáclav Černý was on a different afternoon to everybody else
46 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Besiktas supporters have already started telling it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Besiktas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Al Musrati and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
MarketOh Hyeon-Gyu wants to know where this is going
10 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.
Istanbulspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Besiktas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Konyaspor for Cenk Özkacar 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Besiktas, and it is not being withdrawn.
In brief
BoardroomBesiktas close the window on a squad of their own making
45 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Besiktas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kasimpasa have kept their man, and Besiktas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
44 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The offer from Basaksehir for Milot Rashica 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Fatih Karagumruk had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The shirt still fits. Mustafa Hekimoğlu is back at Besiktas, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basaksehir have kept their man, and Besiktas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mustafa Hekimoğlu has just signed for Besiktas, and for once the answer mattered.
Giresunspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 8‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Besiktas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have shaken hands with Umraniyespor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Besiktas asked and Basaksehir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
42 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 9.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A brace, and Václav Černý takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Václav Černý provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Besiktas have had the benefit of 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 Besiktas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Besiktas heard it as anything else.