The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Charleroi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Romain Amalfitano 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 Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
He is 18 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Zsombor Riba. 1‑0 against OH Leuven, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Charleroi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Charleroi close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Charleroi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
Charleroi asked and KV Mechelen 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Charleroi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Mouscron will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Romain Amalfitano provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joris Delle was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Jakob Napoleon Romsaas has come up in conversations Charleroi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Romain Amalfitano 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.
KV Kortrijk left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Charleroi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Joris Delle
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mardochée Nzita provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Everything agreed with Racing Genk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Romain Amalfitano 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 Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Anderlecht; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Charleroi have done the hard part with Club Brugge, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Joris Delle 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 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Charleroi had all but put away. KAA Gent will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Romain Amalfitano 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Aiham Ousou 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
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.
Romain Amalfitano 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Charleroi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joris Delle 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 Charleroi 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Charleroi prefer.
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 8.76 — 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.
Romain Amalfitano 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Charleroi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joris Delle 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Charleroi man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Aurélien Scheidler was the best thing in any of them.
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 Kévin Monnet-Paquet is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Charleroi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two goals and a mark of 9.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Romain Amalfitano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Charleroi and Standard Liege, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yassine El Ouatki is living that version at Charleroi, and it tends to show in the first month.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8.42. 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.
Romain Amalfitano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Charleroi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joris Delle 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Joris Delle
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Joris Delle has come out of that comparison in the side, and Charleroi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Christian De Bruyne on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Romain Amalfitano 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.
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Théo Defourny falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Christian De Bruyne was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Charleroi 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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. OH Leuven defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Charleroi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 42. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Charleroi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Romain Amalfitano 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 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Charleroi are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 Kévin Monnet-Paquet is on it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Mouscron the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Charleroi will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aurélien Scheidler provided it, and the 9.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Joris Delle 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.
Marked 8.87 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aurélien Scheidler provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Charleroi and KV Kortrijk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aurélien Scheidler provided it, and the 9.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Gaku Nawata, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.30
A mark of 8.30 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Romain Amalfitano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Charleroi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kévin Van Den Kerkhof was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Joris Delle 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Christian De Bruyne after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Charleroi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Mlada Boleslav had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antoine Colassin. 1‑0 against KAA Gent, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solal Théréau was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Charleroi will try again when the window opens; Paris FC may not be selling by then.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Solal Théréau falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have shaken hands with Paris FC; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mouscron have kept their man, and Charleroi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Waasland-Beveren will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Charleroi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
$12.4M on the table at Paris FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Charleroi asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Nimes for Cheick Keita 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Gaku Nawata, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Charleroi offered $2.1M; Racing Genk 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hamza Sakhi is living that version at Charleroi, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiv Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Club Brugge for Aurélien Scheidler 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.
Charleroi and KV Oostende have settled on $1.4M. 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.
$2.0M on the table at Racing Genk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Charleroi asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Manchester City keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Sacha Farruggia 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 Aug 2026
Words at Charleroi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiham Ousou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Espanyol have kept their man, and Charleroi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charleroi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Aiham Ousou 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.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Christian Batshuayi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aurélien Scheidler provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Gaku Nawata, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.60
A mark of 8.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Waasland-Beveren have kept their man, and Charleroi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiham Ousou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.