101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Saoura can pretend not to have heard.
JS Saoura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at El Masry, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. El Masry have kept their man, and JS Saoura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at JS Saoura, and it is not being withdrawn.
JS Saoura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Santos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Saoura 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 Ismail Saadi 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. El Masry have kept their man, and JS Saoura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
JS Saoura have made the call to El Masry. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at JS Saoura is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A loan enquiry to Stade de Reims: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Constant Wayou 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.
JS Saoura asked and Masr El Makasa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bilal Belkebla is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Said Belaili has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adel Bennacer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amine Soudani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismail Saadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at JS Saoura, another week without a signature from Adel Bouchiba.