147 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rudes, another week without a signature from Manuel Landripet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Théo Epailly arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bruno Unušić signs something — a contract at Rudes or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 154 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Imotski waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dominik Mulac was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Vedran Celjak 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rudes, another week without a signature from Jurica Poldrugač.
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.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Unušić knocks on the manager’s door
The offer from NK Osijek for Filip Taraba 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.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Rudes close the window on a squad of their own making
8 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Duje Korač reports back to Rudes with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deal with San Martín SJ is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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 Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jurica Poldrugač will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Nueva Chicago is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes asked and Independiente Medellin 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 phone has started ringing about Krešimir Kovačević again, and this time the name on the line is Segesta. Rudes are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rudes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is saying, and nobody at Rudes is enjoying the guessing.
Jurica Poldrugač 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 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Hajduk Split pay $550.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A loan enquiry to Independiente Medellin: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rudes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rudes have done the hard part with HNK Gorica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Dominik Mulac was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivan Petkovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Goran Corluka 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.
Rudes have made the call to Ferro Carril Oeste. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Duje Korač
The dugoutVedran Celjak knocks on the manager's door
Vedran Celjak 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 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 Rudes 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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 Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
4 clean sheets from 13 appearances at Segesta. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
In brief
The dugoutFelipe Curcio asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Felipe Curcio 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jurica Poldrugač trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Ivor Ribar is on it.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rudes. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Rudes will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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 has re-ordered his thinking and Felipe Curcio has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Vedran Celjak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Curcio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rudes. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
13 appearances at Segesta and the goals have stopped going in. Rudes lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Karlo Kralj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rudes told Allyson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Cherno Saho did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Jurica Poldrugač 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 had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Dugopolje had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.” Filip Majer was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rudes dressing room was either.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marko Zebić did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Vedran Celjak 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 20 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: Adiele Eriugo. 1‑0 against Sesvete, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Felipe Curcio 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Rudes pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rudes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Hajduk Split go through and Rudes go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Vedran Celjak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vedran Celjak 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.
Jurica Poldrugač 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Imotski had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Cibalia left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Felipe Curcio 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Filip Majer to a room that had heard them before.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Đorić has become a man the manager trusts
Vedran Celjak 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.
Cibalia next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Filip Majer, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Bruno Unušić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rudes needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Taraba knocks on the manager's door
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 20 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.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Stefan Vukić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.60. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Curcio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Dominik Mulac delivers — 7.92
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dominik Mulac scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefan Vukić. 2‑0 against Lucko, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rudes will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Filip Majer could afford to be generous.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Segesta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
Noa Skoko 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.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Rudes close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 6 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.
The offer from Imotski for Josip Bralić 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.
Vedran Celjak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Curcio 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Cherno Saho is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Rudes will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Sesvete had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Up for the corner, and Dominik Mulac delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dominik Mulac scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Mario Ljevar again, and this time the name on the line is Sibenik. Rudes are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Krešimir Kovačević, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Filip Majer chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Sesvete next, and one man in the Rudes dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
Jurica Poldrugač 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 21 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Duje Korač had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Vedran Celjak 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 Felipe Curcio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Felipe Curcio
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.
In brief
SquadAdiele Eriugo, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
A brace, and Adiele Eriugo takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adiele Eriugo provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Inhulets for Ivan Zaverukha 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.
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. 7.79 beside his name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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. Adiele Eriugo 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bojan Vrsaljko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vedran Bjelica is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mate Simunovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rudes and Sibenik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 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.
The name of Luka Bilandžić has come up in conversations Rudes were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.