“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 MC Oran know 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ramy Djabou on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Paradou; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at MC Oran, and 7 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ramy Djabou to a room that had heard them before.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. MC Oran have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Benjamin Stambouli 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.
MC Oran asked and JS Saoura said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 1‑0 win over JS Saoura, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelkarim Mammar Chaouche 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.
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.
USM Khenchela will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. MC Oran were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chahreddine Boukholda provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Benjamin Stambouli 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 Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MC Oran asked and CR Belouizdad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
MC Oran close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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; MC Oran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 MC Oran, 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 6.12 for the rest of it.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
MC Oran asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelkarim Mammar Chaouche 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.
$660.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Mohamed Benyettou scored in the 86th minute, MC El Bayadh had already begun thinking about the journey home, and MC Oran took the lot.
The offer from MC Alger for Chahreddine Boukholda 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Moulay Abdelaziz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
He is going to CS Constantine, the club has $660.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to ES Setif; MC Oran go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MC Oran have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Abdelkader Belharrane scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and MC Oran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑0 win over Olympique Akbou, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. MC Oran will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 MC Oran, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramzi Zibouche 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between MC Oran and JS Kabylie, 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 Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Benjamin Stambouli 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 Dec 2026
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Benyettou 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ramy Djabou after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Something was said to Houari Baouche and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juba Aguieb’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MC Oran needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 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.” MC Oran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Benjamin Stambouli 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelkarim Mammar Chaouche was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ramy Djabou was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the MC Oran dressing room was either.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MC Oran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Benjamin Stambouli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Benyettou 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ramy Djabou could afford to be generous.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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 MC Oran know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran 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 Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.79, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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 goal that put ES Mostaganem ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when MC Oran equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at MC Oran, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MC Oran has been clear about where Moulay Abdelaziz stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ES Mostaganem in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MC Oran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1 for Ousmane Coumbassa, marked 7.78, 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.
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 goal that put ASO Chlef ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when MC Oran equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I watch every MC Oran game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Olympique Akbou runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ramy Djabou chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutKamel Soufi knocks on the manager’s door
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ousmane Coumbassa scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Paradou; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelkarim Mammar Chaouche 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for MC Oran. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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.
7 goals in one match, Chahreddine Boukholda on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of MC Oran and USM Khenchela.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Benyettou 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.
At 21 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benjamin Stambouli and MC Oran agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moulay Abdelaziz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against USM Khenchela in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anis Mahdi Mendil signs something — a contract at MC Oran or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 MC Oran 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 Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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.
“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; MC Oran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
“I watch every MC Oran game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at USM Khenchela runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Chahreddine Boukholda scored in the 85th minute, MC El Bayadh had already begun thinking about the journey home, and MC Oran took the lot.
Ousmane Coumbassa 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Mohamed Kerroum 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 MC Oran 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. MC Oran will try again when the window opens; MC Alger may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Moncef Bisker was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ramy Djabou after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MC Oran can pretend not to have heard.
MC Alger have accepted the money. What MC Oran do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
MC Oran offered $3.9M; Sharjah said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 21 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran 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 Mohamed Benyettou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 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.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MC Oran can pretend not to have heard.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
MC Oran spend $360.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $360.0K for Moncef Bisker, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Mohamed Kerroum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
$3.3M on the table at Sharjah. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
MC Oran and Paradou have settled on $360.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at El Masry is saying, and nobody at MC Oran is enjoying the guessing.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
MC Oran spend $2.1M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.1M for Mohamed Saliou Bangoura, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Benyettou 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.
$340.0K on the table at Paradou. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$570.0K was the most the club would pay and USM Alger 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.
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 phone has started ringing about Edlin Essang-Matouti again, and this time the name on the line is CS Constantine. MC Oran are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. MC Oran will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oussama Chita has, at MC Oran, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
$570.0K on the table at USM Alger. 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $600.0K — a club that wants Safi Eddine Atmania enough to be asked twice.
Mokhtar Belkhiter 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sofiane Djabou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Riyad Feghouli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adam Soudani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karim Bennacer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation MC Oran are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Massinissa Nezla has, at MC Oran, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The name of Yacine Goudjil has come up in conversations MC Oran were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MC Oran can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
MC Oran asked and Ajax Cape Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MC Oran, another week without a signature from Mokhtar Belkhiter.
A loan enquiry to Masr El Makasa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.