The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 27 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Bruno Zdunić 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi 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 Hajduk Split will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Domagoj Knezevic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michele Šego signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Dinamo Zagreb on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Bruno Zdunić 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Domagoj Knezevic left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Tin Plavotić is on it.
Something was said to Fran Karačić 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 Leander Dendoncker signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Michele Šego 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hajduk Split, and 6 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Hajduk Split will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Looking aheadThe leaders are next for Hajduk Split
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Toni Silić: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Šimun Hrgović scored in the 85th minute, Lokomotiva Zagreb had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Hajduk Split took the lot.
Michele Šego 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.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
HNK Gorica made Hajduk Split work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Toni Kolega was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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.” Domagoj Knezevic, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michele Šego signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Mehdi Torabi 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.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
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.” Domagoj Knezevic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Michele Šego has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Michele Šego 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.
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adrion Pajaziti. 1‑0 against Slaven Belupo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Domagoj Knezevic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Michele Šego is on it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Torabi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bruno Zdunić 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version 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 Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi 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.
Half the programme played, position 5, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 Adrion Pajaziti is on it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Tin Plavotić 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.
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.
Dinamo Zagreb next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
“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 Hajduk Split, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout13 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Domagoj Knezevic to a room that had heard them before.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
In brief
The dugoutTin Plavotić has become a man the manager trusts
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Hajduk Split close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 14 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.
Michele Šego 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.
Hajduk Split asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout6 Sep 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Domagoj Knezevic to a room that had heard them before.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alberto Del Moral provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
A 2‑0 win over Lokomotiva Zagreb, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Torabi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A conversation is coming this week. Hajduk Split will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
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.” Domagoj Knezevic kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mehdi Torabi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
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.” Domagoj Knezevic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Michele Šego has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
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.
Add another name to the list: Universitatea Craiova have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mehdi Torabi. The answer from Hajduk Split has not changed — yet.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Mehdi Torabi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I watch every Hajduk Split game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cibalia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tin Plavotić is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Fran Brodić
The dugoutMehdi Torabi asks for a word with the manager
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdoulie Sanyang provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Imotski had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Hajduk Split will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Three points for Hajduk Split, 2‑0 the final word against Zadar in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi 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.
Bruno Zdunić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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.” Domagoj Knezevic kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The offer from HNK Rijeka for Toni Kolega 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.
The phone has started ringing about Roko Brajković again, and this time the name on the line is Imotski. Hajduk Split are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Hajduk Split, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hajduk Split 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 Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: HNK Rijeka have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Toni Kolega. The answer from Hajduk Split has not changed — yet.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Michele Šego 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Torabi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Hajduk Split game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cibalia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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 Hajduk Split, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hajduk Split know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Zvonimir Šarlija has written the date down.
Mehdi Torabi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hajduk Split will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Michele Šego 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Šimun Hrgović is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Šimun Hrgović signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hajduk Split will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hajduk Split have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Hajduk Split asked and Empoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hajduk Split, another week without a signature from Tin Plavotić.
Still no offer on the table, and Alberto Del Moral’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hajduk Split will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 23 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.
Bruno Zdunić 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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leander Dendoncker signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Zvonimir Šarlija has written the date down.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Laurenz Orgler arrives from Rapid Wien with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Šimun Hrgović
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marko Livaja has gone, the accounts have $2.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Šimun Hrgović is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
HNK Rijeka paid $2.8M and Hajduk Split took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roko Brajković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hajduk Split the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrion Pajaziti and Hajduk Split agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hajduk Split people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Tin Plavotić 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.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hajduk Split will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hajduk Split people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from KV Mechelen for Toni Silić 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.
Hajduk Split asked and Cibalia 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marino Skelin 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.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Livaja has become a man the manager trusts
BoardroomOpen for business: Hajduk Split enter the window
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Hajduk Split have had the benefit 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 Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
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.
Market31 May 2027
Duje Matić returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roko Brajković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hajduk Split lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hajduk Split is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Tin Plavotić 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.
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 Carlos Martín is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ron Raçi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdoulie Sanyang has written the date down.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Ron Raçi are not good
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hajduk Split lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tin Plavotić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Hajduk Split game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sesvete runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Šimun Hrgović 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 Hajduk Split, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Šimun Hrgović signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hajduk Split. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Hadji Issa Moustapha 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hajduk Split lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Šimun Hrgović 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.
Bruno Zdunić 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hajduk Split, and 9 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Hajduk Split will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michele Šego signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Hajduk Split that is a harder question to answer.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Šimun Hrgović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bruno Zdunić 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hajduk Split, another week without a signature from Tin Plavotić.
“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 Hajduk Split, and 0 appearances in 13 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 Leander Dendoncker is on it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoulie Sanyang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hajduk Split lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hajduk Split 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 Hajduk Split 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 Tin Plavotić 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 Carlos Martín 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 Hajduk Split, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Tin Plavotić 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Šimun Hrgović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Ivica Ivušić 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 Tin Plavotić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Hajduk Split, and 9 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Hajduk Split will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A 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 Abdoulie Sanyang has written the date down.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
BoardroomThe Hajduk Split board put their names to it
Ivica Ivušić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tin Plavotić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Hajduk Split game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dugopolje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leander Dendoncker is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hajduk Split they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hajduk Split 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 Ron Raçi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Hajduk Split will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
HNK Rijeka go through and Hajduk Split go home, 2‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It finished 2-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Šimun Hrgović, marked 7.70, 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hajduk Split and HNK Rijeka in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Šimun Hrgović and Hajduk Split agree another 4 years.
In brief
SquadWords at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
1‑3 against Young Boys, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tin Plavotić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not go to Hrvatski Dragovoljac to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hajduk Split and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 31 matches say the rest.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Hajduk Split can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
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 watch every Hajduk Split game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dugopolje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Marko Livaja 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michele Šego signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hajduk Split. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Hajduk Split and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dante Stipica will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hajduk Split the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Ivica Ivušić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tin Plavotić 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mehdi Torabi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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.
2‑3 against Young Boys. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Tin Plavotić 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marin Šotiček 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.
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Šimun Hrgović 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.
Ivica Ivušić 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 did not go to Hrvatski Dragovoljac to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hajduk Split and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 27 matches say the rest.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Livaja signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hajduk Split, 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 Hajduk Split. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Ron Raçi is still in the building
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Michele Šego
Bruno Zdunić 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.
Nobody at Hajduk Split 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 Abdoulie Sanyang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Zvonimir Šarlija has written the date down.
Hajduk Split close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Luka Hodak 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Hajduk Split are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Carlos Martín 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 Hajduk Split, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Hajduk Split would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hajduk Split. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Tractor did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.8M for Mehdi Torabi, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and Hajduk Split go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mehdi Torabi was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.8M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Luka Hodak 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Duje Matić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Rudes for Dante Stipica 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 Hajduk Split 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Livaja signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Zvonimir Šarlija has written the date down.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Dalisson had done his part in building a 4-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Cibalia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
13 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Hajduk Split go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Hajduk Split asked and Jablonec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Hajduk Split have had the benefit of it.
$1.0M on the table at Dugopolje. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Leander Dendoncker 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.
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 Carlos Martín is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Hajduk Split has been clear about where Dante Stipica stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leander Dendoncker is on it.
Hadji Issa Moustapha 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.
Nobody at Hajduk Split will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Livaja signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoulie Sanyang 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.
4‑0 against Spartak 1918, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
Position 2, 38 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luka Hodak did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Luka Hodak 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Carlos Martín is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hajduk Split. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Šimun Hrgović signs something — a contract at Hajduk Split or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Tin Plavotić 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 Šimun Hrgović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Dennis Hadžikadunić.
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 Carlos Martín is on it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Domagoj Knezevic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hajduk Split dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Šimun Hrgović 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.
200 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 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Successful dribbles: 43. 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 Hajduk Split this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dinamo Zagreb next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hajduk Split told Tin Plavotić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Marko Livaja is on it.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Carlos Martín’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hajduk Split.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Šimun Hrgović 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Hajduk Split will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Carlos Martín was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
34 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
22 goals and a season average of 7.57. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Šime Perko, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
In brief
SquadŠimun Hrgović falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsToni Kolega was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Marko Livaja scored in the 85th minute, TSC had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Hajduk Split took the lot.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marko Livaja. 3‑1 against HNK Gorica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 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 8.42 — 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marko Livaja. 2‑1 against NK Osijek, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Hadji Issa Moustapha 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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Tin Plavotić 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Hajduk Split training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Hajduk Split will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Tin Plavotić 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.75 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luka Hodak did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
1‑3 against Willem II. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
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.
Ivica Ivušić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Hajduk Split pretended it was anything other than a decision about 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 Leander Dendoncker is on it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Domagoj Knezevic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hajduk Split dressing room was either.
7 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Marko Livaja takes the afternoon — 9.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Livaja provided it, and the 9.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Hajduk Split asked and Seattle Sounders said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$310.0K was the most the club would pay and HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. HNK Rijeka spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Dinamo Zagreb on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
18 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Hajduk Split asked and HNK Rijeka 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Hajduk Split ran out of time with Teplice. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The offer went to HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
5 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.
Hajduk Split have gone to Teplice 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marin Šotiček, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 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.
Hajduk Split asked and Las Palmas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Hajduk Split have gone to Slaven Belupo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marin Šotiček 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.
Hajduk Split offered $3.3M; NK Varazdin 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 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.
The fee is $700.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. HNK Gorica drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zadar have kept their man, and Hajduk Split go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 40. 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 from HNK Gorica for Michele Šego 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.
Hajduk Split have gone to NK Varazdin 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 HNK Gorica 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.
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.
Tin Plavotić 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 was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Luka Hodak, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tin Plavotić has just signed for Hajduk Split, and for once the answer mattered.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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 HNK Rijeka 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.
Hajduk Split asked and NK Varazdin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Hajduk Split asked and FC Cincinnati said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Michele Šego 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Hrvatski Dragovoljac have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marino Skelin. The answer from Hajduk Split has not changed — yet.