Ortwin De Wolf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mike Eerdhuijzen 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Simion Michez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jason Denayer will call it something else in private.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jason Denayer's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Waasland-Beveren waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KV Mechelen is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mauro Lenaerts had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Jason Denayer 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simion Michez and KV Mechelen agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ortwin De Wolf 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 clock did what KV Kortrijk would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout8 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Yannick Fellaini to a room that had heard them before.
KAA Gent will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KV Mechelen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Keano Vanrafelghem has gone, the accounts have $2.6M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at KV Mechelen 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.
Racing Genk paid $2.6M and KV Mechelen took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jorge Romero has, at KV Mechelen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Mechelen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Bilal Bafdili 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon KV Mechelen had all but put away. Standard Liege will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KV Mechelen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KV Kortrijk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KV Mechelen is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Mechelen 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 Ortwin De Wolf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Jason Denayer is still being punished for one mistake
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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yannick Fellaini was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the KV Mechelen dressing room was either.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Jason Denayer
Player ratingsThe one thing Divock Origi could not do
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KV Mechelen people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
KV Mechelen and KV Kortrijk have settled on $300.0K. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jason Denayer 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jason Denayer will call it something else in private.
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.
Benito Raman wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Benito Raman found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and OH Leuven went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Mechelen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Waasland-Beveren for Lovro Golič 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.
Ortwin De Wolf was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Denayer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jason Denayer, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Benito Raman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.82. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KV Mechelen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Bill Antonio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ortwin De Wolf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mouscron left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Denayer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Yannick Fellaini to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KV Mechelen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Jason Denayer 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yannick Fellaini after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KV Mechelen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ortwin De Wolf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon KV Mechelen had all but put away. KV Oostende will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Jonathan Hendrickx 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 Dec 2026
8 new faces, and KV Mechelen 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Bill Antonio 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jason Denayer 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.
Something was said to Divock Origi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yannick Fellaini after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Mechelen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Mechelen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Benigno Palacio is living that version at KV Mechelen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yannick Fellaini after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Jason Denayer
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Bill Antonio scored in the 86th minute, Sint-Truiden had already begun thinking about the journey home, and KV Mechelen took the lot.
Jason Denayer and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He 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.
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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Benito Raman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Mechelen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bill Antonio 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Half the programme played, position 12, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nacho Miras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Bill Antonio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Myron van Brederode 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.
Something was said to José Marsà and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Mechelen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑5 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
Jason Denayer 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.
6 goals in one match, Keano Vanrafelghem on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KV Mechelen and Club Brugge.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Yannick Fellaini to a room that had heard them before.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.12, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
11 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yannick Fellaini after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutGora Diouf has become a man the manager trusts
Bill Antonio 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 easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Hendrickx and KV Mechelen agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassane Bandé 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yannick Fellaini was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the KV Mechelen dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Bill Antonio 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 Oct 2026
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ortwin De Wolf 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Racing Genk had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Leo Fuhr Hjelde is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yannick Fellaini after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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 7.72 for the rest of it.
Jason Denayer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy St. Jago was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Yannick Fellaini, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then OH Leuven scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassane Bandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yannick Fellaini after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zulte Waregem moved on, Mauro Lenaerts reports back to KV Mechelen, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Bill Antonio 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Divock Origi. 1‑0 against Zulte Waregem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Yannick Fellaini could afford to be generous.
The deal that would have taken Myron van Brederode to LOSC Lille has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to KV Mechelen with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jason Denayer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The chase for Josué Homawoo ended with $4.7M changing hands and Standard Liege out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
Add another name to the list: LOSC Lille have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Myron van Brederode. The answer from KV Mechelen has not changed — yet.
The terracesKV Mechelen spend $4.7M on the signing the town wanted
4Edition
The KV Mechelen Herald
24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondentUneasy
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$4.7M settles it between the clubs for Josué Homawoo
Standard Liege have accepted the money. What KV Mechelen do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$5.4M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge 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.
KV Mechelen asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and KV Mechelen are still learning each other
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.
The offer from Racing Genk for Bill Antonio 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.
KV Mechelen offered $7.5M; OH Leuven 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
KV Mechelen asked and Mouscron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is going to Anderlecht, the club has $3.6M 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.
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.
Bill Antonio 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Bouke Boersma had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$7.5M on the table at OH Leuven. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
KV Mechelen asked and Mouscron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
KV Mechelen have gone to Racing Genk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monza is saying, and nobody at KV Mechelen is enjoying the guessing.
Jason Denayer 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.
KV Mechelen asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bill Antonio 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 name of Bouke Boersma has come up in conversations KV Mechelen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 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.