14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Eupen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Westerlo is saying, and nobody at Eupen is enjoying the guessing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eupen can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Eupen 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Eupen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Eupen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Zulte Waregem pay $490.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Eupen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hans Mignolet has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michy Boyata is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Eupen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match16 Jan 2027
Daniel Kasper wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Daniel Kasper found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Patro Eisden went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Kasper. 2‑1 against Patro Eisden, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Scott Kennedy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Eupen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Eupen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eupen can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with RFC Liege, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
At 18 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.
Kikas 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 Scott Kennedy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then RSCA Futures scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Eupen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eupen 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 Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Eupen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Ashanti Gold have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdul Nurudeen. The answer from Eupen has not changed — yet.
8.22. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kikas provided it, and the 8.94 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 Scott Kennedy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Laurent Tielemans kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eupen can pretend not to have heard.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Scott Kennedy 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 6.67 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Position 6, 27 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.
It needed Jonas Perrault to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Lokeren-Temse, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Kikas 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Laurent Tielemans after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Yentl Van Genechten and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Jaden Malhage is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marco Hiller signs something — a contract at Eupen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Eupen game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sint-Truiden runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Scott Kennedy 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 is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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 Eupen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He is 21 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.
8 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Eupen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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 Eupen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merveille Bokadi 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Laurent Tielemans to a room that had heard them before.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jong Gent in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
In brief
The dugoutScott Kennedy knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Eupen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kikas 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 Scott Kennedy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
KV Kortrijk next, and one man in the Eupen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Jaden Malhage is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marco Hiller signs something — a contract at Eupen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Eupen have no good answer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Zakaria Atteri has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutJulian Renner asks for a word with the manager
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to KV Kortrijk
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Daniel Kasper scored in the 88th minute, RFC Liege had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Eupen took the lot.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Logan Delaurier-Chaubet and Eupen agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Scott Kennedy 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Daniel Kasper was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Eupen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Youndjé has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Scott Kennedy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Eupen 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Laurent Tielemans after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Eupen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
Kikas 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.
A 2‑1 win over Olympic Charleroi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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 8.40 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Scott Kennedy 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Laurent Tielemans, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Eupen 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 Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Eupen is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I watch every Eupen game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sint-Truiden runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Eupen, 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 Rune Paeshuyse has written the date down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Eupen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Eupen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Amadou Keita delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Amadou Keita scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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; Eupen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merveille Bokadi 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Laurent Tielemans to a room that had heard them before.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
Kikas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8 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.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Lierse in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Eupen have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Eupen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Eupen 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 Merveille Bokadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Laurent Tielemans after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Seraing? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Eupen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eupen can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Lokeren-Temse paid $480.0K and Eupen took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Eupen will try again when the window opens; Seraing may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Merveille Bokadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“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 Eupen, and it is not being withdrawn.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Daniel Kasper will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Eupen escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sint-Truiden had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eupen can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $136.5K — a club that wants Martin Delavallée enough to be asked twice.
Kikas 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 Charleroi 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.
$120.0K was the most the club would pay and Charleroi 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.
Eupen asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Eupen asked and DAC Dunajska Streda 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Oriol Busquets was one of the reasons people came, and $1.5M does not replace that by itself.
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.68 for the rest of it.
Eupen offered $1.6M; KAA Gent 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Spezia is saying, and nobody at Eupen is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eupen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Racing Genk have accepted the money. What Eupen do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Eupen know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Eupen had all but put away. Francs Borains will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Daniel Kasper was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Eupen know it.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.