93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 The request is on a desk at CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 CFR Cluj hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.94 beside his name.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Position 3, 18 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj 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 David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CFR Cluj can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergiu Dragusin after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CFR Cluj may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 21 gone
That is the business done at CFR Cluj 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Gabriel Kobylak reports back to CFR Cluj with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 12 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ural waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj 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.
143 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Astra waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Kobylak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj heard it as anything else.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CFR Cluj people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonard Žuta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
George Burca 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mihai Mitrita is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinildo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A brace, and Reyes Cleary takes the afternoon — 8.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Reyes Cleary provided it, and the 8.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Răzvan Gligor is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Reyes Cleary 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.02 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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Kobylak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Brad Mantsounga is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
At 34 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Sheriff Sinyan has improved at 33, 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.
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.
Position 2, 36 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CFR Cluj people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Biliboc is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Reyes Cleary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Tobol had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ethan Wheatley is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Octavian Vâlceanu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj heard it as anything else.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leonard Žuta has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CFR Cluj people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ismeal Kabia has just signed for CFR Cluj, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reyes Cleary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniel Graovac has his answer from CFR Cluj; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CFR Cluj can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Reyes Cleary falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Graovac trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Petrolul for Simão Rocha 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Reinildo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 5 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.
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 Reinildo is on 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 CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Simão Rocha has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Joyskim Dawa for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. CFR Cluj will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CFR Cluj has been clear about where Samy Mmaee stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CFR Cluj, another week without a signature from Sheriff Sinyan.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ştefan Târnovanu: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Assad Al Hamlawi obliged against FCSB. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is CFR Cluj.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Assad Al Hamlawi provided it, and the 8.81 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. CFR Cluj will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Assad Al Hamlawi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CFR Cluj, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 2, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
“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 CFR Cluj hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reyes Cleary 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 Reyes Cleary is on it.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj 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. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Reinildo 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 Ştefan Târnovanu is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reyes Cleary trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CFR Cluj can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Harrison Dudziak has his answer from CFR Cluj; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CFR Cluj can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj 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 Reyes Cleary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at CFR Cluj 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him 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.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Orlando City for Alibek Aliev 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CFR Cluj, and 13 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Reinildo 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 Ştefan Târnovanu is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nicolas Penner has his answer from CFR Cluj; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simão Rocha signs something — a contract at CFR Cluj or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 CFR Cluj hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Assad Al Hamlawi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
5 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.
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 Assad Al Hamlawi is on it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at CFR Cluj 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. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at CFR Cluj 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 dugoutReyes Cleary asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reyes Cleary 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CFR Cluj, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simão Rocha signs something — a contract at CFR Cluj or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Viitorul had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and CFR Cluj did not stop to explain themselves.
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Assad Al Hamlawi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
Position 2, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Pandurii moved on, Octavian Vâlceanu reports back to CFR Cluj, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CFR Cluj. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Simão Rocha reports back to CFR Cluj with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reyes Cleary is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinildo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pandurii waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicky Rueck has agreed terms with Viitorul for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
$620.0K was the most the club would pay and FCSB 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.
CFR Cluj asked and Petrolul said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Universitatea Craiova wanted more than $1.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Francis Okoronkwo has, at CFR Cluj, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to Hull City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer went to Universitatea Craiova this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ethan Wheatley has just signed for CFR Cluj, and for once the answer mattered.
CFR Cluj have gone to FCSB 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.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 fee is $190.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dinamo Bucharest drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
$430.0K was the most the club would pay and Botosani were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sheriff Sinyan
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Bucharest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
CFR Cluj have gone to FCSB 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 CFR Cluj have had the benefit of it.
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Reyes Cleary falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj 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 Assad Al Hamlawi is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CFR Cluj has been clear about where Mimito Biai stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
“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 CFR Cluj hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 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 George Burca is on it.
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
2 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mihai Stanciu did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 36 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Mihai Mitrita, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Universitatea Craiova will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. CFR Cluj were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Reinildo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Universitatea Craiova tried to reorganise, CFR Cluj did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. CFR Cluj found something the first half had given no notice of, and Petrolul could not hold what they had.
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.
Universitatea Craiova next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CFR Cluj can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 8.19 — 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 ratings6 Nov 2028
Reyes Cleary was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Reyes Cleary 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergiu Dragusin after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinildo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Marked 8.46 — 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.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and FCSB spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Reyes Cleary 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Assad Al Hamlawi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to CFR Cluj.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
With 5 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CFR Cluj, and 12 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Boardroom90% of the income goes out in wages at CFR Cluj
The dugoutReinildo has become a man the manager trusts
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Assad Al Hamlawi provided it, and the 9.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj heard it as anything else.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about CFR Cluj and Pandurii in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergiu Dragusin was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the CFR Cluj dressing room was either.
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.
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 Simão Rocha is on 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 CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 3, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 CFR Cluj hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Anel Husić has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Nobody at CFR Cluj will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Position 3, 14 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CFR Cluj may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 26 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at CFR Cluj 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Reyes Cleary 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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 words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
14 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 name of Mihai Stanciu has come up in conversations CFR Cluj were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FCSB is saying, and nobody at CFR Cluj is enjoying the guessing.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Reyes Cleary from Fleetwood Town for $18.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
$18.2M on the table at Fleetwood Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Miculescu provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aldair Ferreira has, at CFR Cluj, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The shirt still fits. Aldair Ferreira is back at CFR Cluj, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is 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.
CFR Cluj have gone to Lincoln City 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kevin Csoboth is living that version at CFR Cluj, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Yannick Semedo has agreed terms with Petrolul for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Justas Lasickas has just signed for CFR Cluj, and for once the answer mattered.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
CFR Cluj asked and Brentford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mimito Biai has just signed for CFR Cluj, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aldair Ferreira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Brad Mantsounga is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. George Burca wants continental football; whether CFR Cluj can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
$83.0K was the most the club would pay and Universitatea Craiova 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 CFR Cluj 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 Joyskim Dawa
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Universitatea Craiova waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
CFR Cluj had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slavia Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
CFR Cluj have gone to Chiapas 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. João Paulo has just signed for CFR Cluj, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer went to Universitatea Craiova this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
CFR Cluj asked and Leyton Orient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
CFR Cluj offered $2.0M; Universitatea Craiova 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Damjan Đoković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. George Burca is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: KAA Gent keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estoril Praia have kept their man, and CFR Cluj go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
CFR Cluj and Universitatea Craiova have settled on $86.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Universitatea Craiova this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 offer went to KAA Gent this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Bromwich Albion have kept their man, and CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
CFR Cluj have gone to Universitatea Craiova 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.
Dinamo Bucharest wanted more than $55.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Universitatea Craiova paid $260.0K and CFR Cluj took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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
The dugoutReinildo has become a man the manager trusts
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CFR Cluj have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The name of Lorenzo Biliboc has come up in conversations CFR Cluj were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Păun 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
“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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at CFR Cluj 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CFR Cluj, another week without a signature from Aldair Ferreira.
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.
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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 CFR Cluj have had the benefit of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 May 2028
9 new faces, and CFR Cluj 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.
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 George Burca is on it.
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Adrian Păun 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CFR Cluj, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Ştefan Târnovanu signs something — a contract at CFR Cluj or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CFR Cluj. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Semedo asks for a word with the manager
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Miculescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CFR Cluj, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Islam Slimani has written the date down.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. George Burca wants continental football; whether CFR Cluj can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CFR Cluj, and 7 appearances in 41 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Simão Rocha is on it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CFR Cluj told Nicolas Penner something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vlad Chiricheş has his answer from CFR Cluj; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
George Burca 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. CFR Cluj will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I watch every CFR Cluj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CFR Cluj, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CFR Cluj, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Ştefan Târnovanu signs something — a contract at CFR Cluj or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Islam Slimani has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 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.
18 appearances at Universitatea Craiova and the goals have stopped going in. CFR Cluj lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Squad17 Apr 2028
6 new faces, and CFR Cluj 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.
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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Adrian Păun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pandurii will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Antonio Leal has pre-agreed a move to CFR Cluj, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CFR Cluj, and 3 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Simão Rocha is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CFR Cluj will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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 CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 watch every CFR Cluj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at CFR Cluj will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
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 Reinildo is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ştefan Târnovanu signs something — a contract at CFR Cluj or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Assad Al Hamlawi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Păun 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.
11 clean sheets from 18 appearances at Universitatea Craiova. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Assad Al Hamlawi is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutIlija Mašić knocks on the manager’s door
George Burca 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 watch every CFR Cluj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ventspils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Simão Rocha is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Gabriel Kobylak 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.
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CFR Cluj can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 watch every CFR Cluj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj 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 CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Adrian Păun 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.
“I watch every CFR Cluj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pandurii runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at CFR Cluj will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ştefan Târnovanu signs something — a contract at CFR Cluj or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrian Păun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 clean sheets from 18 appearances at Universitatea Craiova. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad21 Feb 2028
7 new faces, and CFR Cluj 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.
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 Assad Al Hamlawi is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simão Rocha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation CFR Cluj are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 Islam Slimani has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldair Ferreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Renato Pantalon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Islam Slimani has written the date down.
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
CFR Cluj close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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 CFR Cluj hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CFR Cluj they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Adrian Păun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Edgar Ié
The dugoutGeorge Burca has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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 CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lorenzo Biliboc will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CFR Cluj the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniel Graovac is living that version at CFR Cluj, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Daniel Graovac is a CFR Cluj player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Something was said to Alin Fică and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj 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. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Botosani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Randers for Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Assad Al Hamlawi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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.
18 appearances at Universitatea Craiova and the goals have stopped going in. CFR Cluj lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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. 34 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Bucharest waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CFR Cluj is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. George Burca wants continental football; whether CFR Cluj can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Păun 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.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 CFR Cluj heard it as anything else.
Assad Al Hamlawi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinildo 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 name of Lorenzo Biliboc has come up in conversations CFR Cluj were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. CFR Cluj had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CFR Cluj can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Reinildo 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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Adrian Păun 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.
18 appearances at Universitatea Craiova and the goals have stopped going in. CFR Cluj lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ştefan Târnovanu is on it.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑1 away to the standard of Nottingham Forest. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj 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 Aldair Ferreira 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Sergiu Dragusin left the room before anybody could ask which.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at CFR Cluj pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
The dugoutGeorge Burca has become a man the manager trusts
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CFR Cluj 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.” CFR Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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 Adrian Păun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Reinildo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I watch every CFR Cluj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ventspils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Reinildo is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑1 against Trabzonspor, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Assad Al Hamlawi was at the centre of the description.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CFR Cluj know it.
Assad Al Hamlawi 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.
Minute 95, against Trabzonspor, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CFR Cluj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Viitorul go through and CFR Cluj go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CFR Cluj heard it as anything else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CFR Cluj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Păun 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
10 clean sheets from 17 appearances at Universitatea Craiova. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CFR Cluj will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑0 against Puskas Akademia, 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: 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.
George Burca 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at CFR Cluj pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.