The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Ansu Fati 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Clermont Foot had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Ansu Fati 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.
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monaco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutFolarin Balogun has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Mathys Tel 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 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.
Mathys Tel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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 name of Imrane Robert has come up in conversations Monaco were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Monaco know it.
Nobody at Monaco 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.
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.
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. Monaco will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Monaco. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutJérémie Boga asks for a word with the manager
SquadJames Abankwah is training like a man with a point to make
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Loïc Tiamuna Lubaki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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 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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jérémie Boga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
28 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
In brief
SquadMika Biereth is the talk of the training ground
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Romeo Vermant will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Serginho has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati 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.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Zabarnyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Monaco know it.
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 Vanderson is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordan Teze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Monaco that is a harder question to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Monaco has been clear about where Filippo Terracciano 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.
Mathys Tel 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Loïc Tiamuna Lubaki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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; Monaco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monaco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Romeo Vermant will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel 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 Apr 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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 Monaco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
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.
Position 2 on 80 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and AJ Auxerre had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Monaco did not stop to explain themselves.
“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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Ansu Fati 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ekene Chukwuani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Mathys Tel is on it.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Khalis Merah decided nobody was going anywhere. LOSC Lille had no time left to answer.
Mathys Tel 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Zabarnyi 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.
Position 2, 73 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orebro waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Romeo Vermant will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel 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: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Ansu Fati 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.
In brief
Looking aheadThe big one: LOSC Lille come into view
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
OGC Nice next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Monaco pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monaco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Ansu Fati is on it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Monaco heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Folarin Balogun provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mathys Tel 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 Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
11 goals and a season average of 7.45. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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.
Position 2, 67 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Franco Frías has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
In brief
Boardroom103% of the income goes out in wages at Monaco
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 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.
The deal that would have taken Soriba Diaoune to AS Nancy has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Monaco with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Monaco hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
14 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Krépin Diatta reports back to Monaco with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Monaco close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 3 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Creteil waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Mathys Tel 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Soriba Diaoune will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Monaco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Edoardo Corvi: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Folarin Balogun provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Creteil waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Red Star waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 33 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.
4 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yann Bodiger has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monaco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Monaco have had the benefit of 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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monaco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Up for the corner, and Lamine Camara delivers — 7.90
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lamine Camara scored, was marked 7.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel 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: 22. 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.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monaco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Denis Zakaria 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.45 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Lamine Camara 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 name of Romaric Etonde has come up in conversations Monaco were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 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.
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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Half the programme played, position 2, 41 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mathys Tel 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
A point taken on 91 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Marius Broholm obliged against Angers SCO. 4‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Monaco.
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
4 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.
Mathys Tel 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Loïc Tiamuna Lubaki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monaco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Derby days make names, and Lamine Camara made his against OGC Nice. 2‑1, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monaco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Monaco and a story that will outlast his contract.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Romaric Etonde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco 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 Monaco 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monaco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ansu Fati provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Olympique de Marseille, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Denis Zakaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Monaco. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A 3‑2 win over RC Strasbourg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 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 Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Monaco and Stade Rennais, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Mathys Tel
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against FC Lorient, and it could have been more.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A brace, and Yann Gboho takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yann Gboho provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nicolas Galazzi has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Mathys Tel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sam Amo-Ameyaw 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.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Sam Amo-Ameyaw was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.06 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.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel 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. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monaco and FC Metz 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Folarin Balogun at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mathys Tel at his very best
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Mathys Tel
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
1 for Lamine Camara, marked 7.94, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Loïc Tiamuna Lubaki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Ansu Fati 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monaco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 8.57 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsFolarin Balogun was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Mika Biereth obliged against US Creteil. 8‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Monaco.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Nimes, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
A brace, and Mathys Tel takes the afternoon — 8.74
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathys Tel provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 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 Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco 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 Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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 Monaco hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer from Olympique Lyonnais for Gentian Selmani 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.
Mathys Tel 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Romaric Etonde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Ruch for Loïc Tiamuna Lubaki 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 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.
Angers SCO made Monaco work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Folarin Balogun was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.92. 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Metz waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Zabarnyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stéphane Marty is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robert Aubert has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Olympique de Marseille waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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 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.
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 trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Monaco has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Monaco asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Position 2, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stade Brestois waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jérémie Boga is living that version at Monaco, and it tends to show in the first month.
The phone has started ringing about Ansu Fati again, and this time the name on the line is Olympique de Marseille. Monaco are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gentian Selmani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Mertens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Monaco have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Michel Mboula has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arsène Kouassi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Stade Brestois for Gentian Selmani 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sam Amo-Ameyaw is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Nobody at Monaco 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.
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michel Mboula will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel 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.
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 Folarin Balogun is on it.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monaco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monaco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Ansu Fati again, and this time the name on the line is Anderlecht. Monaco are listening politely and promising nothing.
Mathys Tel 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.
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.
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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monaco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Radosław Majecki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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 name of Mamadou Coulibaly has come up in conversations Monaco were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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: AS Nancy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Loïc Tiamuna Lubaki. The answer from Monaco has not changed — yet.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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 Denis Zakaria is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michel Mboula will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel 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.
Nobody at Monaco 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Monaco. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Olympique de Marseille paid $4.9M and Monaco took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Denis Zakaria 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Monaco heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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 name of Sambou Soumano has come up in conversations Monaco were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Monaco have had the benefit of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arsène Kouassi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Martínez has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thilo Kehrer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mathys Tel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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 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 Folarin Balogun is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Monaco. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Otávio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 goals in 35 games at Sunderland — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Monaco updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Position 2, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco 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 Monaco 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 Illia Zabarnyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Mathys Tel is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Yann Gboho has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monaco, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Giuseppe Pezzella is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monaco know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monaco know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Monaco that is a harder question to answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thilo Kehrer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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; Monaco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Monaco 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Soriba Diaoune’s exile
Position 2, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michel Mboula will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco 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 Monaco 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 Illia Zabarnyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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 Mathys Tel is on it.
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Position 2 on 69 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
Mathys Tel 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 7.91 for the rest of it.
Mathys Tel 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Zabarnyi 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. 8.64, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Ansu Fati was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
22 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.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Monaco supporters have already started telling it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 105th minute. Clermont Foot will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Ansu Fati 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.
Mathys Tel 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 Illia Zabarnyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Paris Saint-Germain spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Denis Zakaria 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 RC Strasbourg; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Paris Saint-Germain next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
In brief
Player ratingsAnsu Fati was on a different afternoon to everybody else
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michel Mboula will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco 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 Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Ansu Fati on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Monaco and FC Lorient.
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.
Stade Brestois will want this one forgotten quickly: 8‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Monaco were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
18 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
The deal that would have taken Radosław Majecki to Stade Brestois has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Monaco with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Mathys Tel 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Folarin Balogun at his very best
MatchMathys Tel among the goals in a wild afternoon
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Monaco 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.
Mathys Tel 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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Monaco training over how hard people work
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mathys Tel 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.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Folarin Balogun was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.65. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Charles Mertens's mistake
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexis Vossah did not need any: 8.56, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco 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.
At 20 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.
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Ansu Fati 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Golovin provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sochaux had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Denis Zakaria 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 Jan 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ansu Fati 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Golovin. 2‑1 against Paris FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Golovin provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
14 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel 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, Alexandr Golovin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Monaco and RC Lens.
In brief
SquadIllia Zabarnyi falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monaco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Monaco hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Monaco and Angers SCO, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mathys Tel 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.
13 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monaco can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Monaco 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monaco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ansu Fati provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Giuseppe Pezzella has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Zabarnyi 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 22 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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monaco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khalis Merah did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Monaco heard it as anything else.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Mertens 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 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
12 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.
4 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Takumi Minamino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑0 against OGC Nice, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Monaco and a story that will outlast his contract.
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.
Denis Zakaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Mertens is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mathys Tel 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.14 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.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
11 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.
Denis Zakaria 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.
0‑3 to Paris Saint-Germain, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Vanderson 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.
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.
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Folarin Balogun. 2‑0 against RC Strasbourg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monaco and Stade Rennais 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ansu Fati provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Vanderson 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.
“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 Monaco know it.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A brace, and Mathys Tel takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathys Tel provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bradel Kiwa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Pedro Pelágio has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Mertens 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco 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 Takumi Minamino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Monaco has been clear about where Francis Coquelin stands, which is more than many ever get.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Monaco are still learning each other
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Denis Zakaria 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.
“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 Oct 2028
Khalis Merah is the division's best young player this month
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. Monaco will try very hard not to make too much of it.
A point taken on 95 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.
Marked 6.99 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Takumi Minamino
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Marius Broholm obliged against US Creteil. 9‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Monaco.
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.
“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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.86, 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.
Mathys Tel 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Monaco and US Creteil, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mika Biereth at his very best
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bradel Kiwa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Takumi Minamino 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Denis Zakaria 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.
8 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
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 Vincent Schmitt to a room that had heard them before.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khalis Merah did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Monaco may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 29 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Monaco 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Zakaria was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Serginho has, at Monaco, 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monaco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Khalis Merah, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.18
A mark of 8.18 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Filippo Terracciano has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bradel Kiwa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arsène Kouassi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Lukás Hrádecký 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.
Olympique Lyonnais wanted more than $13.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arthur Avom Ebong is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Zakaria was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotiv Plovdiv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Romaric Etonde. The answer from Monaco has not changed — yet.
Nobody at Monaco 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at LOSC Lille is saying, and nobody at Monaco is enjoying the guessing.
$11.8M on the table at Olympique Lyonnais. 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monaco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Francis Coquelin has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
Monaco have gone to LOSC Lille 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and Monaco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. James Abankwah is living that version at Monaco, and it tends to show in the first month.
Mathys Tel 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 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Add another name to the list: Angers SCO have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ritchy Valmé. The answer from Monaco has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toulouse FC have kept their man, and Monaco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Malavan for Romaric Etonde 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 Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexis Vossah is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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 at Monaco 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $35.5M has been paid because Yann Gboho is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yann Gboho has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
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.