From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
NK Osijek say no — this time
The offer from Dinamo Zagreb for Marko Zubaj 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $460.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. HNK Gorica drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.81 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Malenica, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Dinamo Zagreb are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. NK Osijek will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and NK Osijek did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stanislav Shopov and NK Osijek agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. NK Osijek have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match8 Aug 2026
0‑2 to HNK Rijeka, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nail Omerović knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Osijek, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arnel Jakupović and NK Osijek agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Arnel Jakupović 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about David Mejía again, and this time the name on the line is Zadar. NK Osijek are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nail Omerović, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Match1 Aug 2026
It needed Yannick Touré to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Slaven Belupo, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.