Position 2 and 67 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
A brace, and Mathys Tel takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathys Tel provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Théodore Arnaud 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Marek Ujlaky is living that version at Monaco, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dino Kojić has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
$2.4M was the most the club would pay and LOSC Lille were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Monaco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Monaco close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 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.
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.
In brief
SquadAnsu Fati falls out with a teammate over standards
Toulouse FC go through and Monaco go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Edoardo Corvi: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Hidalgo is living that version at Monaco, and it tends to show in the first month.
Position 2, 55 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monaco have done the hard part with RC Strasbourg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Monaco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” US Creteil had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad12 Jan 2032
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
SquadSergio Ruiz arrives at the club he grew up with
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
Add another name to the list: Paris Saint-Germain have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gessime Yassine. The answer from Monaco has not changed — yet.
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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Mathys Tel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Monaco and FC Lorient, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Ansu Fati at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mathys Tel at his very best
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
12 goals and a season average of 7.44. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad8 Dec 2031
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.
Position 2, 43 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
A brace, and Lamine Camara takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lamine Camara provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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 went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Dec 2031
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Monaco and FC Nantes, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsAnsu Fati was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Jean Vidal 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.
Marked 8.41 — 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 ratingsBradel Kiwa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The dugoutMathys Tel has become a man the manager trusts
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.
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. Jak Alnwick will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Nov 2031
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.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Olympique de Marseille; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
7 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
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.
Position 2 and 30 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
A brace, and Lamine Camara takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lamine Camara provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 Oct 2031
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dominik Hollý is living that version at Monaco, and it tends to show in the first month.
Marked 8.88 — 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.
Valenciennes will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Monaco were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ansu Fati provided it, and the 9.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gessime Yassine provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Monaco and Stade Brestois, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
With 7 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monaco they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathys Tel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Oct 2031
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.
Marked 8.61 — 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.
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.
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.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Vincent Schmitt kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jak Alnwick will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
SquadAnsu Fati falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
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 Sep 2031
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stéphane Marty is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match6 Sep 2031
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
33 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.
8 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.
“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 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 26 arrived, 26 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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.
7 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 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” US Creteil 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jak Alnwick has agreed terms with Olympique Lyonnais for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jak Alnwick will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Aug 2031
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Olympique Lyonnais had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
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 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jérémie Boga had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
“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.
At 19 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
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, wages agreed, and River Plate 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.
“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 Aug 2031
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Platense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
“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.
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.
At 24 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.
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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nick Mokabakila had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Quiroga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jul 2031
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.
At 29 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.
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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jérémie Boga had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that 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.
The bid was some way short and Monaco did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Jul 2031
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.
At 18 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.
12 seasons and 429 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Valenciennes will make the call about Jérémie Boga this week. Monaco have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
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.
Add another name to the list: Deportivo Municipal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Agustín Quiroga. The answer from Monaco has not changed — yet.
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Barcelona 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.
The deal with Gijón is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jean Vidal is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Monaco are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutAnsu Fati has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutJérémie Boga knocks on the manager's door
Monaco and Colón have settled on $7.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jérémie Boga had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mohammed Salisu has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Agustín Quiroga 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Quiroga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monaco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
SquadAnsu Fati falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
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.
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 unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Lucas Michal is somebody else's player now, and $333.3K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
“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.
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 was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
A 1‑0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Monaco had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
5 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.
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 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.
Squad26 May 2031
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.
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 May 2031
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.
Squad19 May 2031
A last season at home is what Jérémie Boga is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
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.
Position 2, 76 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.
“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.
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mathys Tel signs something — a contract at Monaco or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 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.
Squad5 May 2031
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.
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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Monaco will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Théodore Arnaud and Monaco agree another 4 years.
Squad21 Apr 2031
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.
Position 2, 76 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.
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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
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.
“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.
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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mathys Tel signs something — a contract at Monaco or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 2 on 76 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.
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 Jordan Teze, marked 7.99, 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.
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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
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.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSam Amo-Ameyaw is still being punished for one mistake
A 3‑0 win over Olympique Lyonnais, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
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 7.95 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monaco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. Monaco have their man.
Squad24 Mar 2031
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.
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 Mar 2031
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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. OGC Nice on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Up for the corner, and Lamine Camara delivers — 7.86
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lamine Camara scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. James Abankwah 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.
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.
14 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.
“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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mika Biereth. 2‑0 against RC Strasbourg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
23 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.
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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Harry Leonard has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
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.
It needed Ansu Fati to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Stade Rennais, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vincent Schmitt chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jordan Teze will call it something else in private.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJordan Teze dropped after a run of poor form
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Monaco will try again when the window opens; Paris Saint-Germain may not be selling by then.
“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.
“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.
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. Pape Cabral 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.
In brief
SquadCharles Mertens falls out with a teammate over standards
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monaco have done the hard part with Paris Saint-Germain, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Paris Saint-Germain pay $11.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Nothing signed, nothing denied, and a lot of people suddenly very careful about their wording. Supporters who have been through one of these know the quiet part lasts months.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yasir Mouh had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that 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.
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 7.80 for the rest of it.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 7 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 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.
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
SquadCharles Mertens falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mathys Tel at his very best
Paris Saint-Germain pay $43.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
“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.
Paris Saint-Germain pay $15.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The offer from Stade Brestois for Arthur Avom Ebong 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.
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 Jan 2031
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriele Indragoli has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Sam Amo-Ameyaw obliged against Toulouse FC. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Monaco.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Le Havre AC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dijon had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Monaco asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Paris Saint-Germain pay $16.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
“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.
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.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ekene Chukwuani reports back to Monaco with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad13 Jan 2031
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.
In brief
SquadA move Jak Alnwick would have made for nothing
31 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Folarin Balogun 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.
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, wages agreed, and Radnicki Nis 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monaco will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
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 Rentistas for Ekene Chukwuani 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.
Squad30 Dec 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
30 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monaco will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 44 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.
“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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monaco will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 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.
The offer from Audax Italiano for David Martínez 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsFolarin Balogun was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5 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 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. James Abankwah 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.
In brief
SquadAnsu Fati falls out with a teammate over standards
29 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monaco will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
“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 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.
28 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.
Derby days make names, and Mathys Tel made his against OGC Nice. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Başar Önal obliged against Clermont Foot. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Monaco.
Position 2, 34 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.
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.
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.
27 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 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Squad18 Nov 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Yann Gboho at his very best
7.71, 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.
“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.
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 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 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 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Golovin commits to Monaco for another 2 years.
Squad4 Nov 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.
A 3‑1 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.
Marked 8.47 — 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 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 7.78 for the rest of it.
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 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Monaco have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Oct 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.
Marked 8.45 — 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 ratingsNinety minutes of Yann Gboho at his very best
A brace, and Mathys Tel takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathys Tel provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
12 seasons and 407 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“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 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. Massimo Sandi has, at Monaco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 Charles Mertens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.01, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Monaco now know that too.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Sep 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
MatchParis Brunner among the goals in a wild afternoon
SquadWill Dennis arrives at the club he grew up with
“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. James Abankwah 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.
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.
Squad16 Sep 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Strumia has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Charles Mertens. 1‑0 against Paris FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ekene Chukwuani reports back to Monaco with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Arzamendia is living that version at Monaco, and it tends to show in the first month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 6.98 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.
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.
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 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.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Monaco close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 20 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.
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 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. Agustín Quiroga has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Ra'ed had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
Squad26 Aug 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
20 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.
Monaco asked and Coventry City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Clermont Foot moved on, Filippo Terracciano reports back to Monaco, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AFC Wimbledon is saying, and nobody at Monaco is enjoying the guessing.
The fee is $18.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Paris Saint-Germain drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Soriba Diaoune had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Monaco asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad12 Aug 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.
Paris Saint-Germain will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nouhou has pre-agreed a move to Monaco, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Paris Saint-Germain have accepted the money. What Monaco do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade Brestois keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Filippo Terracciano had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
“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 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.
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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at Monaco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vanderson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pontedera keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” US Creteil had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutYann Gboho asks for a word with the manager
Monaco and Pontedera have settled on $23.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$16.6M on the table at Stade Brestois. 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 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.
$7.7M on the table at Toulouse FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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.
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 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
SquadDaniel Harvie arrives at the club he grew up with
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AS Nancy had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Add another name to the list: Club Brugge have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ansu Fati. The answer from Monaco has not changed — yet.
The offer from Nimes for Nicolas Galazzi 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.
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 Jul 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.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutAnsu Fati has become a man the manager trusts
SquadA last season at home is what Serginho is after
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at Monaco is enjoying the guessing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Francesco Folino has just signed for Monaco, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
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.
$3.5M settles it between the clubs for Rémy Gauthier
Paris Saint-Germain have accepted the money. What Monaco do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Krépin Diatta had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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 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 Ansu Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stéphane Marty is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valenciennes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monaco is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” US Creteil had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
Squad24 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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sébastien Arnaud 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.
The deal that would have taken Imrane Robert to Bourg-Peronnas 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 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.
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.