“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
David Čolina 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.
Hajduk Split paid $650.0K and NK Osijek took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferland Mendy 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. Bari have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Osijek, and 6 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Osijek have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ferland Mendy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Heister was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Čolina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikola Soldo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
David Čolina 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Osijek has been clear about where Luka Vrbančić stands, which is more than many ever get.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikola Soldo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek 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.
In brief
The dugoutEmin Hasić asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
6 groups that do not mix, and 5 players belonging to none of them. Nothing here can be fined or dropped, which is why it lasts longer than any row that can.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marko Malenica has come out of that comparison in the side, and NK Osijek have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Osijek. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Osijek can pretend not to have heard.
David Čolina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
Oskar Droździk is 20, and NK Osijek have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Ivan Barić is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
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.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and HNK Gorica were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Barić did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Mejía 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.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
David Čolina 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ferland Mendy 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 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.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek 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 Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Luka Jelenić will call it something else in private.
Zadar go through and NK Osijek go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Osijek can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
NK Osijek are taken apart by Zadar — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Ferland Mendy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and NK Osijek know it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jay Kruiver 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the NK Osijek dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anton Matković did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
David Čolina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about NK Osijek and Istra 1961 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tin Kovac after 3‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
David Čolina 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 Ferland Mendy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and NK Osijek are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Tin Kovac chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1 for David Čolina, marked 7.57, 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.
Ferland Mendy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Heister is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Tin Kovac left the room before anybody could ask which.
David Čolina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ferland Mendy 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jakov Dedić is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
David Čolina 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A point taken on 97 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Position 4, 12 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Jelenić's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tin Kovac after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
David Čolina 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. Christy Grogan has just signed for NK Osijek, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy 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.
15 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He is 20, and nobody at NK Osijek signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferland Mendy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tin Kovac could afford to be generous.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
That is the business done at NK Osijek 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at NK Osijek is enjoying the guessing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jack Armer has, at NK Osijek, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.52, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ferland Mendy 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.6M has been paid because Antonio Erceg is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nikola Soldo is living that version at NK Osijek, and it tends to show in the first month.
David Čolina 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.
NK Osijek offered $360.0K; Slaven Belupo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
NK Varazdin paid $26.0K and NK Osijek took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
NK Osijek asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Anton Matković 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yannick Touré. 1‑0 against HNK Vukovar 1991, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Matej Gagulić
NK Osijek and Zadar have settled on $4.6M. 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.
NK Osijek had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spartak Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Varazdin have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$300.0K on the table at Slaven Belupo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
David Čolina 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 Tonio Teklić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$10.4M was the most the club would pay and Seattle Sounders 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tonio Teklić 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Tin Kovac left the room before anybody could ask which.
NK Osijek have gone to Seattle Sounders with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dino Perić has just signed for NK Osijek, and for once the answer mattered.
Real Madrid did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.8M for Ferland Mendy, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
NK Osijek have gone to HNK Rijeka with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
David Čolina 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.
NK Osijek asked and Astra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fran Pjaca has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
NK Osijek have gone to Real Madrid with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
David Čolina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tonio Teklić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Niko Farkaš has come up in conversations NK Osijek were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.