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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kashiwa Reysol had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksii Hutsuliak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Partizan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
A season average of 7.28 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksii Hutsuliak 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Milan Vukotić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals in one match, Oleksii Hutsuliak on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Partizan and Crvena Zvezda.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $7.8M has been paid because Oleksii Hutsuliak is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oleksii Hutsuliak has, at Partizan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Milan Aleksić, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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.
Partizan offered $700.0K; Vojvodina 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Oleksii Hutsuliak from Polissia for $7.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Partizan have gone to Vojvodina 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.
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 21 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.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luka Đorđević has, at Partizan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The chase for Marko Mladenović ended with $470.0K changing hands and Vojvodina out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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 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.
Position 3, 42 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.
“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.
10 matches without a win, and then this, against Novi Pazar. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Milan Aleksić, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have shaken hands with Vojvodina; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
$110.0K on the table at Cukaricki. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
He is 21 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.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Spartak Subotica held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Partizan answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Partizan are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Erik Kojzek, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.40
A mark of 8.40 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.
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Demba Seck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Partizan had all but put away. Radnicki Nis will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
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.
Milan Lazarević 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.
0‑1 against Lokomotiv Sofia. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Milan Vukotić 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.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Something was said to Luka Milivojević and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutSaša Zdjelar has become a man the manager trusts
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.
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.
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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nenad Lazovic was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Partizan dressing room was either.
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 Iddrisu Baba is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marko Živković has his answer from Partizan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Miloš Krunić
SquadNikola Simić is the weekend's best young player
2‑2 against Hajduk Split, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Erik Kojzek 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: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
IMT made Partizan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Iddrisu Baba 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 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.
0‑1 to Zeleznicar Pancevo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iddrisu Baba 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.
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.
“I watch every Partizan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lucko runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑5. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Position 2, 32 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, Demba Seck on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Partizan and Hajduk Split.
Squad26 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.
Beaten 1‑3 by Crvena Zvezda in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
1 for Iddrisu Baba, marked 7.95, 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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
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.
Milan Vukotić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 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.
Three points for Partizan, 1‑0 the final word against Radnicki 1923 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iddrisu Baba 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.
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.
Crvena Zvezda next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
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.
0‑5 against Ajax. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Sidney Lima 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
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.
Beaten 5 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Sidney Lima
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nenad Lazovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Partizan dressing room was either.
Position 2, 25 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Demba Seck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.82. 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.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Squad9 new faces, and Partizan are still learning each other
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Erik Kojzek, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 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.
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.
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.
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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
Marked 8.95 — 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 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
The deal with Mladost Lucani died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 2 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.
The offer from Podbeskidzie for Marko Lekić 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nikola Simić reports back to Partizan with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Partizan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
IMT are out and Partizan go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Erik Kojzek takes the afternoon — 9.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Erik Kojzek provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lokomotiv Plovdiv had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Spartak Subotica 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.
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.
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 Vojvodina; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Partizan have gone to Al Ain 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.
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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotiv Plovdiv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marko Lekić. The answer from Partizan has not changed — yet.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Partizan will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Kojzek did not need any: 8.06, 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. 8.25 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lazar Lukic 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.
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Demba Seck takes the afternoon — 9.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Demba Seck provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Partizan and Radnik Surdulica, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.