“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 The request is on a desk at Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Diogo Gonçalves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Konyaspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Konyaspor told Matija Gočmanac something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 The request is on a desk at Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Konyaspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Facundo Di Sibio 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Jannis Bärtl 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 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.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
Pedro Martelo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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 dugout28 Apr 2031
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.” Ali Torun, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luke McNally was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Yhoan Andzouana is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yusuf Özer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Umraniyespor were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Luke McNally 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.
1‑5 against Alanyaspor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hubert Charuży will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Konyaspor and Alanyaspor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
1‑4 to Antalyaspor, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Anıl Yiğit Çınar has agreed terms with Trabzonspor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Konyaspor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Monnapule Saleng 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
1 for Gaïus Makouta, marked 7.39, 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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Konyaspor and Trabzonspor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Luke McNally 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enes Tayfun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Konyaspor hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Konyaspor know it.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Monnapule Saleng 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Monnapule Saleng 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.68 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Furkan Bekleviç has, at Konyaspor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Besiktas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Pedro Martelo reports back to Konyaspor with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Konyaspor 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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal that would have taken Anıl Yiğit Çınar to Fenerbahce has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Konyaspor with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.27 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enes Tayfun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Konyaspor until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Santos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The name of Yusuf Özer has come up in conversations Konyaspor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Konyaspor have done the hard part with Crvena Zvezda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Pedro Martelo has agreed terms with Alanyaspor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Facundo Di Sibio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trabzonspor have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Konyaspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Kasimpasa for Ali Yıldız 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.
Diogo Gonçalves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Luke McNally falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Konyaspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Trabzonspor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cenk Under will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Besiktas 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universidad de Chile is saying, and nobody at Konyaspor is enjoying the guessing.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Konyaspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Galatasaray for Benjamin Bouchouari 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enes Tayfun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Giresunspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jannis Bärtl. The answer from Konyaspor has not changed — yet.
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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Konyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.70 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Emre Kaplan has agreed terms with Trabzonspor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Konyaspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑4 against Basaksehir, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luke McNally was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diogo Gonçalves 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 Luke McNally was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Kasimpasa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Konyaspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Talha Özdemir has just signed for Konyaspor, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Benjamin Bouchouari 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.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Konyaspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Can Bartu Çığır will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Luke McNally 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 words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Luke McNally 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pedro Martelo has his answer from Konyaspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Selahattin Sevim provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Diogo Gonçalves 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 Luke McNally was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Selahattin Sevim has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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 words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor 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 Luke McNally was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Konyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
2‑3 to Trabzonspor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Konyaspor know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Luke McNally 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Konyaspor, another week without a signature from Hubert Charuży.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
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 Ali Torun to a room that had heard them before.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Konyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor 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 Luke McNally was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Benjamin Bouchouari 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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 taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Konyaspor, another week without a signature from Jannis Bärtl.
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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ömer Faruk Karahan has just signed for Konyaspor, and for once the answer mattered.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannis Bärtl 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.
1‑4 against Fatih Karagumruk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diogo Gonçalves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Ali Torun left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Enes Tayfun
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cenk Under will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yhoan Andzouana 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Nacional have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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; Konyaspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Konyaspor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Umraniyespor moved on, Pedro Martelo reports back to Konyaspor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Konyaspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atletico Nacional, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
0‑4 to Galatasaray, 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 32 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gaziantep moved on, Ahmad Aburasyin reports back to Konyaspor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Cenk Under has agreed terms with Basaksehir for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Konyaspor asked and Adana Demirspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadLuke McNally falls out with a teammate over standards
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Şahin Dik provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Everything agreed with Sparta Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luke McNally 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. Besiktas have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Ludogorets 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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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.
“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; Konyaspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Konyaspor 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cenk Inan 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmad Aburasyin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universidad de Chile is saying, and nobody at Konyaspor is enjoying the guessing.
Diogo Gonçalves and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Konyaspor know it.
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke McNally 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Konyaspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Burak Kapacak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Konyaspor have done the hard part with Crvena Zvezda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yhoan Andzouana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pedro Martelo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Crvena Zvezda 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.
$660.0K was the most the club would pay and Basaksehir were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor 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. Adana Demirspor have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Add another name to the list: Alanyaspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ali Yıldız. The answer from Konyaspor has not changed — yet.
Universidad de Chile 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.
In brief
The dugoutYhoan Andzouana has become a man the manager trusts
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
$660.0K on the table at Basaksehir. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Benjamin Bouchouari 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Giresunspor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Sparta Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ludogorets keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Umraniyespor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yhoan Andzouana 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. Basaksehir have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Şahin Dik has his answer from Konyaspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
16 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Umraniyespor for Ahmad Aburasyin was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Crvena Zvezda, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Selahattin Sevim is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Galatasaray have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannis Bärtl 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.
Konyaspor have made the call to Crvena Zvezda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutArthur Masuaku has become a man the manager trusts
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Konyaspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Konyaspor have done the hard part with Gaziantep, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
$190.0K was the most the club would pay and Trabzonspor 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yhoan Andzouana 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Konyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Galatasaray for Benjamin Bouchouari 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hubert Charuży is living that version at Konyaspor, and it tends to show in the first month.
$2.3M on the table at Fenerbahce. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Konyaspor heard it as anything else.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Efe Seçil has agreed terms with Giresunspor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The name of Pedro Martelo has come up in conversations Konyaspor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fenerbahce have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
34 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Konyaspor now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad3 Jun 2030
9 new faces, and Konyaspor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Adrian Benedyczak 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 shirt still fits. Yusuf Özer is back at Konyaspor, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
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.
Something was said to Aleksandar Popović and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Anıl Yiğit Çınar is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor 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 Yhoan Andzouana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Konyaspor has been clear about where Ronald Duarte stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Martelo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronald Duarte will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Konyaspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Konyaspor has been clear about where Anıl Yiğit Çınar stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad13 May 2030
Ali Yıldız 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Iroegbunam 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.
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.
Nobody at Konyaspor 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.
Something was said to William Delgado and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Konyaspor.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Ali Yıldız 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tim Iroegbunam scored, was marked 7.37, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor 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 Tim Iroegbunam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Adrian Benedyczak 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 Apr 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Iroegbunam is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Konyaspor told Aleksandar Popović something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad8 Apr 2030
6 new faces, and Konyaspor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Ali Torun could afford to be generous.
0‑3 against Alanyaspor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Burak Kapacak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Konyaspor and a proper look at me.” He remains Trabzonspor’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christopher Lungoyi provided it, and the 9.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Konyaspor and Antalyaspor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tim Iroegbunam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Yıldız 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.
Fenerbahce will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Konyaspor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor 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 Tim Iroegbunam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Gaïus Makouta, marked 7.97, 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.
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.
Tim Iroegbunam 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yhoan Andzouana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Konyaspor and Trabzonspor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tim Iroegbunam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tim Iroegbunam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad25 Feb 2030
7 new faces, and Konyaspor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor 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 Yhoan Andzouana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Besiktas moved on, Burak Kapacak reports back to Konyaspor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.67 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Berke Evli has just signed for Konyaspor, and for once the answer mattered.
Batuhan Çelik had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Adana Demirspor were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Umraniyespor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Umraniyespor for Ahmad Aburasyin 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Basaksehir is saying, and nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Konyaspor asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8.68. 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.
Fenerbahce go through and Konyaspor go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The offer from Basaksehir for Burak Kapacak 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Iroegbunam 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Cihan Akgün has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Konyaspor have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kasimpasa have kept their man, and Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Burak Kapacak has come up in conversations Konyaspor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bahadır Güngördü has agreed terms with Alanyaspor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
Besiktas paid $590.0K and Konyaspor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Konyaspor and Besiktas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
0‑5 to Galatasaray, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Istanbulspor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Adrian Benedyczak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch7 Jan 2030
Emre Kaplan is tired of being somebody else's player
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Konyaspor where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Trabzonspor until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
1‑4 to Kayserispor, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Gaziantep will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Konyaspor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Adrian Benedyczak on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Konyaspor and Gaziantep.
Marked 9.76 — 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 a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Richard Khalilzade provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Tim Iroegbunam 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.
11 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Konyaspor 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.
Basaksehir held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Konyaspor answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Adrian Benedyczak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmad Aburasyin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marked 8.60 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Burak Kapacak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Konyaspor will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Burak Kapacak has his answer from Konyaspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Burak Kapacak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Bahadır Güngördü: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Adrian Benedyczak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ali Torun was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Konyaspor dressing room was either.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adrian Benedyczak provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Necip Uysal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
Antalyaspor made Konyaspor work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Burak Kapacak 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.
10 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
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.” Ali Torun kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Three points for Konyaspor, 3‑2 the final word against Fenerbahce in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Burak Kapacak 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Konyaspor who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Konyaspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diogo Gonçalves was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dijlan Aydın has his answer from Konyaspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Konyaspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Trabzonspor kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Konyaspor will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Istanbulspor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ertuğrul Sandıkcı has pre-agreed a move to Konyaspor, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Konyaspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tim Iroegbunam 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Burak Kapacak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
10 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Iroegbunam is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Giresunspor spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Adrian Benedyczak 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.
6 goals in one match, Drissa Camara on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Konyaspor and Adana Demirspor.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yhoan Andzouana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Konyaspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Iroegbunam 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ADO Den Haag have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Konyaspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Besiktas moved on, Chidozie Awaziem reports back to Konyaspor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Konyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Konyaspor asked and RB Leipzig said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Burak Kapacak 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Konyaspor, another week without a signature from Enes Tayfun.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Richard Khalilzade provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Konyaspor close the window on a squad of their own making
30 in and 16 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Bahadır Güngördü reports back to Konyaspor with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Konyaspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Galatasaray, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Konyaspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Konyaspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Galatasaray is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The chase for Ali Emre Yanar ended with $410.0K changing hands and Kayserispor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Konyaspor 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 Konyaspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Necip Uysal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Crvena Zvezda, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.84 beside his name.
Konyaspor offered $73.0K; Galatasaray 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Konyaspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Konyaspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Trabzonspor for Bahadır Güngördü 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.
Diogo Gonçalves and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The offer went to 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.
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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yhoan Andzouana 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 deal with Cruzeiro 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.
Diogo Gonçalves 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.
Konyaspor asked and Antalyaspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yusuf Demirkıran has, at Konyaspor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Konyaspor know it.
The name of Ahmad Aburasyin has come up in conversations Konyaspor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Konyaspor know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basaksehir have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Konyaspor offered $83.0K; Kayserispor 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Burak Kapacak 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Konyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Istanbulspor for Ahmad Aburasyin 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 deal with Crvena Zvezda 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.
Konyaspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Besiktas paid $590.0K and Konyaspor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
In brief
SquadWords at Konyaspor training over how hard people work
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Konyaspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Sivasspor is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Benjamin Bouchouari 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Besiktas have kept their man, and Konyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Fenerbahce for Chidozie Awaziem 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Konyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Konyaspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Necip Uysal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Konyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Crvena Zvezda, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sparta Prague is saying, and nobody at Konyaspor is enjoying the guessing.
Diogo Gonçalves 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 21 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.
“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 Konyaspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sparta Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Konyaspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Konyaspor, another week without a signature from Enis Bardhi.
Crvena Zvezda 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.
Konyaspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Galatasaray, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Konyaspor offered $140.0K; Antalyaspor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yhoan Andzouana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Sivasspor for Emre Kaplan 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 chase for Şahin Dik ended with $2.2M changing hands and Alanyaspor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Konyaspor asked and Besiktas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmad Aburasyin again, and this time the name on the line is Giresunspor. Konyaspor are listening politely and promising nothing.