The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Genk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$10.7M was the most the club would pay and KV Oostende 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.
Racing Genk asked and KV Oostende 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
$6.9M on the table at KV Oostende. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Anderlecht 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 Racing Genk 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 Matte Smets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.45 — 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 8.18 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Daan Heymans at his very best
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Hendrik Van Crombrugge 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Racing Genk know it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 3‑1 win over Zulte Waregem, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Kévin Théophile-Catherine 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Genk heard it as anything else.
Soufiane Rahimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Junya Ito 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafiu Durosinmi. 2‑0 against Mouscron, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.43 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Rafiu Durosinmi obliged against OH Leuven. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Racing Genk.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.27 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 Racing Genk 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 33 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.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
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 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.
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Rafiu Durosinmi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matte Smets 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Lucas Torreira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 Romelu Tielemans left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Romelu Tielemans chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.13 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 Racing Genk 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Rafiu Durosinmi 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Minute 90, against Sint-Truiden, 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.
Westerlo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Genk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Racing Genk know it.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junya Ito 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.
Kévin Théophile-Catherine 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Waasland-Beveren will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
A 2‑1 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 21 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Bryan Heynen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Soufiane Rahimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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: 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.
10 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yaimar Medina did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Lucas Torreira 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 Junya Ito was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tobias Lawal, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 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.” Romelu Tielemans, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutJoris Kayembe dropped after a run of poor form
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Junya Ito and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 7.07 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Minute 87, against Standard Liege, 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Romelu Tielemans chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Rafiu Durosinmi 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 Lucas Torreira 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Romelu Tielemans to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Junya Ito 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bodo/Glimt have kept their man, and Racing Genk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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 Racing Genk hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tobias Lawal has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kashima Antlers did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $9.0M for Yuma Suzuki, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The match ball belongs to Soufiane Rahimi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Yaimar Medina, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
$9.0M settles it between the clubs for Yuma Suzuki
Kashima Antlers have accepted the money. What Racing Genk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Najran waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$9.0M was the most the club would pay and Young Boys 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Matte Smets 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Racing Genk will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Racing Genk have paid $15.5M for Lucas Torreira, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The offer went to Young Boys 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $7.2M has been paid because Soufiane Rahimi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club Brugge have kept their man, and Racing Genk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Soufiane Rahimi has just signed for Racing Genk, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.40 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Al Ain have accepted the money. What Racing Genk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Racing Genk have gone to Galatasaray with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Genk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from KV Oostende for Jerry Afriyie 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.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer went to Al Ain 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 from Ittihad for Aaron Bibout 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hendrik Van Crombrugge and Racing Genk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matte Smets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.