The offer went to Galatasaray 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rizespor is saying, and nobody at Istanbulspor is enjoying the guessing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Istanbulspor can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tugra Turhan did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fatih Karagumruk have kept their man, and Istanbulspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tugra Turhan. 2‑0 against Esenler Erokspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
$3.3M settles it between the clubs for Altin Zeqiri
Rizespor have accepted the money. What Istanbulspor do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 The request is on a desk at Istanbulspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 20 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.
Istanbulspor asked and Galatasaray said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vefa Temel 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.
11 combined actions and 6.87. 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.
“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 Istanbulspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Bandirmaspor will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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 Istanbulspor have had the benefit of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Istanbulspor have done the hard part with Boluspor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bandirmaspor were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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; Istanbulspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Mario Krstovski 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.
Add another name to the list: Fatih Karagumruk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ertuğrul Sandıkcı. The answer from Istanbulspor has not changed — yet.
Besiktas go through and Istanbulspor go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Mario Krstovski 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Istanbulspor 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 Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Istanbulspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mamadou Mendy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Halil Dursun after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hatayspor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑3 to Boluspor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Mustafa Sol 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Halil Dursun after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Duran Şahin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Istanbulspor 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.
1 for Dijlan Aydın, marked 7.66, 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
After 8 games, Istanbulspor finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Pendikspor; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Dijlan Aydın 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fahri Ay has come out of that comparison in the side, and Istanbulspor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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. Fahri Ay has moved up it.
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dijlan Aydın falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Phellipe 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Phellipe 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Vefa Temel 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 the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duran Şahin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Adana Demirspor defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Mario Krstovski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dijlan Aydın 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fatih Tultak 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.
“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 Istanbulspor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tugra Turhan did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mario Krstovski 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 Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of İsa Doğan
The terracesA long trip to Alanyaspor worth making
14Edition
The Istanbulspor Gazette
2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
112% of the income goes out in wages at Istanbulspor
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alp Tutar 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Fahri Ay is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mustafa Sol trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Duran Şahin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Keciorengucu defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Muhammed Mert’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Istanbulspor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fahri Ay did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mustafa Sol 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 Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Halil Dursun on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Tugra Turhan had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sariyer were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
1 for Dijlan Aydın, marked 7.63, 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fahri Ay is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dijlan Aydın 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: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Istanbulspor told Mertcan Ayhan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Istanbulspor is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Something was said to Tugra Turhan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
7 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.
Germán Rodríguez Rojas is 36 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alp Tutar signs something — a contract at Istanbulspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Mario Krstovski 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.
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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bodrum FK were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dijlan Aydın 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
135% of the income goes out in wages at Istanbulspor
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fatih Tultak, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Tugra Turhan
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tugra Turhan has come out of that comparison in the side, and Istanbulspor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dijlan Aydın 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fatih Tultak has his answer from Istanbulspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Halil Dursun to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tugra Turhan, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Istanbulspor would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutFatih Tultak knocks on the manager’s door
0‑3 to Erzurumspor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Istanbulspor asked and NEC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Istanbulspor dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Halil Dursun to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Istanbulspor can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Napoli is saying, and nobody at Istanbulspor is enjoying the guessing.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Istanbulspor are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dijlan Aydın 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IFK Norrkoping have kept their man, and Istanbulspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Halil Dursun chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Istanbulspor have done the hard part with Napoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Antalyaspor have kept their man, and Istanbulspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dijlan Aydın 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. İzzet Erdal is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 Istanbulspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trabzonspor have kept their man, and Istanbulspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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. 10 actions, 6.76, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duran Şahin 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: 12. 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Serikspor? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Chances created: 9. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Farul Constanța is saying, and nobody at Istanbulspor is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dijlan Aydın 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NEC have kept their man, and Istanbulspor 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 Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Istanbulspor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
SquadTugra Turhan is the weekend's best young player
Istanbulspor offered $2.6M; Goztepe 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.
Istanbulspor asked and Artis Brno 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.9M — a club that wants Rhaldney enough to be asked twice.
Mario Krstovski 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Igdir FK had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Farul Constanța have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Everything agreed with Schalke 04, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amedspor have kept their man, and Istanbulspor 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 Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tolga Demiral has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Semih Yazici has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kenan Yildirim 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. Murat Torun 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alanyaspor have kept their man, and Istanbulspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Krstovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Demeaco Duhaney 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.