The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Bohemians 1905 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.
The offer from Viktoria Plzen for Michal Reichl 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bohemians 1905 asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.97, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bohemians 1905 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Matoušek 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.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bohemians 1905 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match16 Jan 2027
Václav Drchal wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Václav Drchal found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sigma Olomouc went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The deal with Zenit is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Benson Sakala falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Bohemians 1905 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 1‑0 win over Sigma Olomouc, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Bohemians 1905 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Racing Santander, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AZ have kept their man, and Bohemians 1905 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jan Matoušek has his answer from Bohemians 1905; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Bohemians 1905 have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bohemians 1905 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Bohemians 1905 scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yusuf provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Bohemians 1905 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Aleš Čermák 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Matoušek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Bohemians 1905 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑1 win over Slovan Liberec, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bohemians 1905 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Aleš Čermák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benson Sakala 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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 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 would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Martin Schick chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bohemians 1905 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Benson Sakala 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 Jan Matoušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Sparta Prague next, and one man in the Bohemians 1905 dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vojtěch Smrž trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Benson Sakala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Matoušek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bohemians 1905 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Slovacko made Bohemians 1905 work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Aleš Čermák 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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Martin Schick kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutTomáš Frühwald has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Matoušek 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.
Something was said to Yusuf and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bohemians 1905 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bohemians 1905 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Mlada Boleslav will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bohemians 1905 were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Bohemians 1905 scored in the 98th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Gibril Sosseh, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
Aleš Čermák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benson Sakala is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑1 win over Banik Ostrava, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Robert Hrubý was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Martin Schick on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Something was said to Václav Drchal and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bohemians 1905 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Aleš Čermák 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Matoušek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Martin Schick could afford to be generous.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Vojtěch Smrž's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
132 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bohemians 1905 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 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 Jan Matoušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Milan Havel is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomáš Frühwald trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The words a physio says slowly. 141 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benson Sakala 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 Bohemians 1905 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Martin Schick kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bohemians 1905 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Aleš Čermák takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aleš Čermák provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Benson Sakala 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: Aleš Čermák. 3‑1 against Zlin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Matoušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Martin Schick could afford to be generous.
156 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bohemians 1905 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Matoušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad12 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Bohemians 1905 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Martin Schick to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Vojtěch Smrž's mistake
A brace, and Václav Drchal takes the afternoon — 8.78
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Václav Drchal provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Aleš Čermák 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 Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bohemians 1905, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 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 Jan Matoušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Martin Schick was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bohemians 1905 dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bohemians 1905 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Williams Wonah is living that version at Bohemians 1905, and it tends to show in the first month.
Aleš Čermák scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Slovan Liberec, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Matoušek 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 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Aleš Čermák was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tomáš Frühwald and Bohemians 1905 agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and Bohemians 1905 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Bohemians 1905 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Martin Schick to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bohemians 1905 can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Shakhtar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PAOK have kept their man, and Bohemians 1905 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 Gibril Sosseh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Milan Havel
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Milan Havel has come out of that comparison in the side, and Bohemians 1905 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bohemians 1905 can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $65.0K — a club that wants Jakub Jakubko enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slovan Bratislava keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Václav Drchal. 3‑2 against Pribram, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bohemians 1905 asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Benson Sakala was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 42. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bohemians 1905 can pretend not to have heard.
Bohemians 1905 asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bohemians 1905 offered $290.0K; Slovacko 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 Bohemians 1905 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: Jan Matoušek. 1‑0 against Slovacko, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The fee is $650.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Zbrojovka Brno drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $300.0K — a club that wants Patrik Blahút enough to be asked twice.
The deal with Shakhtar is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zenit keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Bohemians 1905 have gone to Slovacko 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.
Aleš Čermák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Bohemians 1905 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jiří Texl has, at Bohemians 1905, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Everything agreed with Zbrojovka Brno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Shakhtar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bohemians 1905 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bohemians 1905 asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 seasons and 375 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Aleš Čermák 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 Benson Sakala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bohemians 1905 have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.