The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 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.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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.
“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 Racing Genk, and 8 appearances in 10 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 Shota Fukuoka is on it.
22 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.
Shota Fukuoka 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Romeo Vermant 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.
“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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Bryan Heynen 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 midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.10, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Yaimar Medina is a Racing Genk player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The enquiry everybody at Racing Genk was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
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 Jeppe Erenbjerg is on it.
Something was said to Jason van Duiven and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh signs something — a contract at Racing Genk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
“I watch every Racing Genk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Seraing runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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 captaincy has been taken off Daan Heymans. Racing Genk will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Joris Kayembe
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
Shota Fukuoka 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.
9 combined actions and 6.76. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Racing Genk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I watch every Racing Genk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Charleroi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leander Januzaj after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugoutKjell Scherpen asks for a word with the manager
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Racing Genk will try again when the window opens; Flamengo may not be selling by then.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 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.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Racing Genk will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutJoris Kayembe asks for a word with the manager
The deal with Flamengo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Racing Genk will try again when the window opens; RWDM may not be selling by then.
“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 Racing Genk, and 1 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mamadou Diakhon and Racing Genk agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“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 Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Flamengo 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 deal that would have taken Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh to Panathinaikos has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Racing Genk with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The chase for Mamadou Diakhon ended with $5.6M changing hands and Club Brugge out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Wolke Janssens has, at Racing Genk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
15 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 37 gone
That is the business done at Racing Genk 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.
Racing Genk have gone to Anderlecht 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 offer from Al Ahly for Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
Everything agreed with Club Brugge, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Sparta Prague pay $11.6M, 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. RWDM have kept their man, and Racing Genk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is going to Sparta Prague, the club has $11.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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.
Bryan Heynen 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Romeo Vermant 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.
“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 Racing Genk, 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 Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikolas Sattlberger 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ricardo Bettocchi and Racing Genk agree another 3 years.
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.
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.
“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.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Lukáš Červ 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 offer went to Club Brugge 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.
“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 Racing Genk, and 3 appearances in 9 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 Shota Fukuoka is on 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.
$38.0K was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sint-Truiden have kept their man, and Racing Genk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Club Brugge paid $2.8M and Racing Genk took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Bryan Heynen 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.
Racing Genk have gone to Club Brugge 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 name of Ayumu Yokoyama has come up in conversations Racing Genk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Racing Genk will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Racing Genk
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Radja Chadli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kevin Fellaini 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Radja Hazard 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.
“I watch every Racing Genk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kecskeméti TE runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Racing Genk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from KAA Gent for Tobias Lawal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Racing Genk 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 Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Racing Genk that is a harder question to answer.
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.
Add another name to the list: KAA Gent have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tobias Lawal. The answer from Racing Genk has not changed — yet.
“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 Racing Genk, and 0 appearances in 5 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 Shota Fukuoka is on 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 Racing Genk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Racing Genk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Aaron Bibout had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
29 appearances and 12 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jusef Erabi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Jarne Steuckers has moved up 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Daan Heymans 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 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 Daan Heymans is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Genk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordy Soladio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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 Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Olympic Charleroi for Yaimar Medina 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Loïc Alvarez Fernandez is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Racing Genk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Bryan Heynen is on it.
Wages are the one subject a dressing room never discusses and always knows. Jason van Duiven has signed terms at Racing Genk that will be quietly noted by everybody who trains beside him.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lommel; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Genk 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Yaimar Medina has come up in conversations Racing Genk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.8M — a club that wants Jason van Duiven enough to be asked twice.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kjell Scherpen 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.
Position 3, 59 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 offer went to Francs Borains 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.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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 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.
Milan Roganović 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Marcos Peano 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.
14 games, 7 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Racing Genk now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Racing Genk would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for 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. Racing Genk will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahima Sory Bangoura will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Genk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Marcos Peano 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.
12 goals in 29 games at Preston — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Racing Genk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Shota Fukuoka is on it.
“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 Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Genk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Daan Heymans 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 Marcos Peano 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 Jeppe Erenbjerg 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.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
22 appearances at Telstar and the goals have stopped going in. Racing Genk lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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 Daan Heymans is on it.
6 goals in 13 games at ADO Den Haag — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Racing Genk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Nikolas Sattlberger has written the date down.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Kjell Scherpen 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Peano 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 Racing Genk 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Peano 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.
12 goals in 28 games at Preston — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Racing Genk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
11 shut-outs in 21 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Lucca Brughmans has been having a lot of them.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugoutRomeo Vermant knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Daan Heymans 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.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Racing Genk that is a harder question to answer.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Bryan Heynen 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 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Peano 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.
10 clean sheets from 19 appearances at Telstar. 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.
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 Daan Heymans is on 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 Racing Genk, 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 Racing Genk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Marcos Peano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kjell Scherpen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yaimar Medina signs something — a contract at Racing Genk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
4 goals in 8 games at ADO Den Haag — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Racing Genk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Anderlecht go through and Racing Genk go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Palacios will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Racing Genk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
27 appearances at Preston and the goals keep coming. Racing Genk are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Leander Januzaj to a room that had heard them 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 Shota Fukuoka is on it.
1‑0 against Rizespor, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Romeo Vermant was at the centre of the description.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Peano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Racing Genk pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
12 seasons and 323 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
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.
“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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsJeppe Erenbjerg was on a different afternoon to everybody else
12 seasons and 322 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Sint-Truiden; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Lukáš Červ 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Racing Genk will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“74 caps is more than I ever expected, and it is time somebody else had them.” At 34 he is finished with his country and nowhere near finished with Racing Genk.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Racing Genk scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
1 for Benjamin Tahirović, marked 7.79, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Peano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zulte Waregem will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Genk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Seraing waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
7 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Bryan Heynen 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
6 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.
The offer from Urawa Reds for Junya Ito 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.
Racing Genk asked and Lommel 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 Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jeppe Erenbjerg and Racing Genk agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bragantino keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Racing Genk asked and Besiktas 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Romeo Vermant ended with $8.5M changing hands and Club Brugge out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Racing Genk close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 7 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stef Peeters has just signed for Racing Genk, and for once the answer mattered.
Racing Genk have gone to Bragantino 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.
Racing Genk offered $25.8M; Flamengo 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.
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.
The deal with Club Brugge is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Flamengo 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Genk 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Club Brugge 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jordy Soladio has, at Racing Genk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
$23.5M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Genk 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Francs Borains is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Racing Genk asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is going to FC Nantes, the club has $23.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Union SG did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $2.3M for Kjell Scherpen, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
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 7.91 for the rest of 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Anderlecht for Rafiu Durosinmi 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.
$3.8M on the table at Francs Borains. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Racing Genk have gone to Union SG 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.
Racing Genk have gone to KAA Gent 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The phone has started ringing about Milan Roganović again, and this time the name on the line is Lierse. Racing Genk are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadMarcos Peano falls out with a teammate over standards
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 7.96 for the rest of 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Coenen and Racing Genk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.” Leander Januzaj kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Joris Kayembe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutBryan Heynen has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutMarcos Peano asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Robin Mirisola is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marked 7.14 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Peano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafiu Durosinmi. 3‑1 against RAAL La Louviere, 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.
2‑0 against CSKA Sofia, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Rafiu Durosinmi was at the centre of the description.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lukáš Červ scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
At 22 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.
“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.
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.
“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 Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Lukáš Červ 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 watch every Racing Genk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Eupen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 dugout7 Dec 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 Leander Januzaj to a room that had heard them before.
1‑1 against OGC Nice, 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.
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Peano 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.
9 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafiu Durosinmi. 2‑0 against Anderlecht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Shota Fukuoka 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
Marcos Peano 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafiu Durosinmi. 2‑0 against Antwerp, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Antwerp tried to reorganise, Racing Genk did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Kevin Amaro 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Lukáš Červ something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I watch every Racing Genk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokeren-Temse runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Joris Kayembe's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
1‑0 against Jagiellonia, 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.
Bryan Heynen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marcos Peano 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 first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Sint-Truiden; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Racing Genk has been clear about where Nikolas Sattlberger stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Shota Fukuoka something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Lukáš Červ 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Peano 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh. 2‑1 against Union SG, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 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.
2‑0 against Jagiellonia, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Rafiu Durosinmi was at the centre of the description.
1 for Lukáš Červ, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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.
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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adrián Palacios is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Marcos Peano 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.18, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joris Kayembe has his answer from Racing Genk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
At 22 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.
“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.
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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rafiu Durosinmi signs something — a contract at Racing Genk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Loan watchLucca Brughmans’s loan is measured in nothing happening
26 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.
1‑2 against CSKA Sofia, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lennart Mertens and Racing Genk agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Racing Genk, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hendrik Van Crombrugge has his answer from Racing Genk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jeppe Erenbjerg provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Peano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.01 — 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 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.
1‑0 against OGC Nice, 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.
Bryan Heynen 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Robin Mirisola is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marcos Peano 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tobias Lawal will call it something else in private.
48 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
At 23 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Racing Genk 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.
“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.
Lukáš Červ 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 Marcos Peano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Robin Mirisola has come up in conversations Racing Genk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Racing Genk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The fee is $13.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tractor drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Fadel Gobitaka ended with $4.0M changing hands and RFC Liege out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Fehervar for Milan Roganović 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh has just signed for Racing Genk, and for once the answer mattered.
Rafiu Durosinmi 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.
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: Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh from Tractor for $13.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tobias Lawal 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.
Racing Genk have gone to RFC Liege 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 deal with Waasland-Beveren is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The 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.
$880.0K was the most the club would pay and Patro Eisden 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.
Bryan Heynen 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Junya Ito
$13.1M on the table at Tractor. 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 comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Racing Genk have paid $9.0M for Lukáš Červ, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Racing Genk have paid $5.5M for Shota Fukuoka, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Racing Genk have paid $3.1M for Marcos Peano, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Lukáš Červ was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $9.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 offer went to RAAL La Louviere 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 RWDM 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 KV Mechelen for Adrián Palacios 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.
Racing Genk have gone to Patro Eisden 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $940.0K — a club that wants Kéres Masangu enough to be asked twice.
“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.
The name of Robin Mirisola has come up in conversations Racing Genk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Kevin Amaro 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 7.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
12 seasons and 297 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Amaro 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafiu Durosinmi. 2‑0 against KV Mechelen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.