The offer from Atyrau for Uroš Zdjelarić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Novi Pazar paid $260.0K and Partizan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Karim Konaté 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 Harrison Reed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The name of Uroš Zdjelarić has come up in conversations Partizan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Lukáš Červ was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Javor-Matis kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Partizan will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Partizan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Karim Konaté 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Harrison Reed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8.34. 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marko Veličković had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The bid was some way short and Partizan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Karim Konaté for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Partizan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Živković 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Saša Zdjelar has his answer from Partizan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Auckland City waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Partizan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harrison Reed 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Karim Konaté 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.
Andrija Živković 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Harrison Reed 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.
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Uroš Zdjelarić. The answer from Partizan has not changed — yet.
Nobody at Partizan 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.
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 Partizan that is a harder question to answer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Partizan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Miloš Krunić has written the date down.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marko Lekić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Partizan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karim Konaté 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 Jul 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Živković 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 Harrison Reed is on it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Iddrisu Baba'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 year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Partizan would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Position 2, 65 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bristol City have kept their man, and Partizan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Partizan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Partizan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Partizan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Partizan offered $2.3M; Panathinaikos 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.
The phone has started ringing about Bogdan Kostić again, and this time the name on the line is Gubbio. Partizan are listening politely and promising nothing.
7 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Partizan 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. Marko Lekić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer went to Panathinaikos this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Karim Konaté 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vukašin Đurđević is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mateja Milovanović and Partizan agree another 4 years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Partizan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Partizan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Partizan have paid $9.0M for Lukáš Červ, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Zlate Moravce 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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Karim Konaté was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Milan Vukotić 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.
Nobody at Partizan 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 has not finished forgetting Iddrisu Baba's mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Partizan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 65 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.
$9.0M on the table at Viktoria Plzen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Partizan and OFK Beograd have settled on $420.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Partizan asked and NK Osijek 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 offer from Montana for Nemanja Trifunović 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.
$1.1M on the table at Vojvodina. 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 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 Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
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 Partizan have had the benefit of it.
Andrija Živković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Milić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nemanja Trifunović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Partizan no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Partizan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Milan Vukotić
Karim Konaté 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 did not go to Lokomotiv Plovdiv to sit and watch. I want to come back to Partizan and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
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 Karim Konaté is on 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Partizan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Partizan and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Milan Aleksić’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Karim Konaté 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.
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Partizan know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bibars Natcho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Partizan, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Partizan 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 dugout17 May 2027
Iddrisu Baba is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bibars Natcho 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 Sidney Lima is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Partizan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“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 Partizan know it.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
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 Andrija Živković is on 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.
Karim Konaté 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 Bibars Natcho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Partizan, and 3 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Karim Konaté is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Partizan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Marko Milošević’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bibars Natcho 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 Harrison Reed is on 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.
Position 2, 65 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.
Sidney Lima 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 watch every Partizan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cherno More runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Sidney Lima is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Partizan have no good answer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Saša Zdjelar has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Partizan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bibars Natcho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Partizan 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.
Karim Konaté was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bibars Natcho 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Partizan, and 3 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Partizan 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Partizan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
Karim Konaté and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
2‑4 against Ferencvaros, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
6 goals in one match, Karim Konaté on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Partizan and Ferencvaros.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bibars Natcho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marko Milošević.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Partizan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bibars Natcho 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Partizan who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Nobody at Partizan 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.
“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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Partizan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Karim Konaté 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 at Partizan 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Partizan would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Saša Zdjelar has written the date down.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
3‑2 against Ferencvaros, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Partizan scored in the 123th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Marked 7.98 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Karim Konaté at his very best
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bibars Natcho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Andrija Živković at his very best
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 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. Andrija Živković provided it, and the 8.06 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 Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Partizan and Napredak, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milan Vukotić 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 8.38 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Partizan can pretend not to have heard.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Crvena Zvezda kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Partizan will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Partizan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Partizan close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 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 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 Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Karim Konaté was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Partizan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Milan Vukotić 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 transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Andrija Živković is a Partizan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The offer from Triestina for Nemanja Trifunović 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Partizan can pretend not to have heard.
Karim Konaté 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.
Add another name to the list: Casertana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bogdan Kostić. The answer from Partizan has not changed — yet.
A 1‑0 win over Radnicki 1923, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
Player ratingsKarim Konaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Mladost Lucani will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Partizan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer went to PAOK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Partizan offered $390.0K; Novi Pazar 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.
In brief
Player ratingsDemba Seck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
MatchDemba Seck among the goals in a wild afternoon
0‑3 to TSC, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Livorno waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Sidney Lima 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.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Vojvodina 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikola Simić is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Milan Vukotić 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.
Partizan asked and Panathinaikos 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against TSC; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Partizan dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is Erik Kojzek's
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Partizan had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
“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; Partizan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The offer went to Vojvodina this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
A season average of 7.16 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Partizan know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milan Vukotić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against OFK Beograd, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Karim Konaté takes the afternoon — 9.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Karim Konaté provided it, and the 9.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Karim Konaté and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Milan Vukotić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Milošević, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Demba Seck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
2‑4 away to the standard of AZ. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Partizan and AZ, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“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 Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Karim Konaté 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Bibars Natcho 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Vojvodina had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Partizan know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Karim Konaté 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.80 beside his name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bibars Natcho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Demba Seck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.65. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Position 2, 38 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.
Sidney Lima 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Partizan had all but put away. Javor-Matis will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Sidney Lima 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.
Three points for Partizan, 3‑2 the final word against Radnik Surdulica in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bibars Natcho 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateja Milovanović 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.
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.
0‑1 away to the standard of Hajduk Split. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bibars Natcho 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erik Kojzek. 1‑0 against IMT, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Position 2, 34 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.
Zeleznicar Pancevo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Partizan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Partizan know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Karim Konaté 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 8.43 — 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.
2‑2 against Hajduk Split, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Karim Konaté was at the centre of the description.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 9.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Position 3, 28 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.
6 goals in one match, Karim Konaté on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Partizan and Napredak.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan 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 Bibars Natcho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Something was said to Karim Konaté and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Karim Konaté was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
3‑3 against AZ, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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; Partizan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Partizan and AZ in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bibars Natcho 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, 19 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.
Sidney Lima 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
Bibars Natcho 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: 18. 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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Erik Kojzek is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Partizan found something the first half had given no notice of, and CSKA 1948 could not hold what they had.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Erik Kojzek, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23
A mark of 8.23 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Harrison Reed 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Karim Konaté 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Partizan and Spartak Subotica in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Partizan ran out of time with Molde. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bibars Natcho 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.
Partizan and Molde have settled on $1.3M. 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Partizan 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 Partizan heard it as anything else.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Bogdan Kostić reports back to Partizan with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Karim Konaté 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.
Partizan asked and MSK Zilina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bibars Natcho 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.
Fulham did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $940.0K for Harrison Reed, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The offer from Napredak for Nikola Simić 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.
Sidney Lima 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Partizan will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The name of Bogdan Kostić has come up in conversations Partizan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Partizan know which stage they are at.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Partizan has been clear about where Mario Jurčevič stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
Sidney Lima 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Bibars Natcho 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Partizan know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Red Bull Salzburg did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $6.1M for Karim Konaté, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The offer went to Fulham this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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 Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bibars Natcho 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.
$6.1M on the table at Red Bull Salzburg. 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Partizan offered $1.4M; Radnik Surdulica 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.
Sidney Lima 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Erik Kojzek 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.
Radnik Surdulica will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Partizan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Milan Aleksić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Sidney Lima 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
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bibars Natcho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Milan Vukotić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The name of Bogdan Kostić has come up in conversations Partizan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.